Kitsune of the Moon
by acw28
Summary: For three years Percy has feared the Great Prophecy. He and his friends, Annabeth, Grover, and the newly revived Thalia, all train for the day when the Son of Poseidon will decide the fate of the world. But what will happen when a friend from Annabeth and Thalia's past reappears? What'll happen when he brings friends of his own? Rated T for violence and slight swearing, may change.
1. I

**Hey everyone, it's acw28 here with another new story.**

 **So this story is one of four that I've decided to write because the ideas have either, (A) been stuck in my head for a long time or (B) are new but are too good that I've ended up developing them more.**

 **So this story is partially inspired by one that I read before I had an account. I've only ever been able to read the first chapter of** _ **Moon Fox**_ **by TenchiSaWaDa but the opening chapter has stuck with me. I'm not going to copy anyone's work, but I figured my audience would like to know where I draw part of my inspiration.**

 **So this will mainly be a** _ **Naruto**_ **and** _ **Percy Jackson**_ **crossover, but I've also got some plans for some of Riordan's other characters. With that said I hope everyone enjoys the first chapter of** _ **Kitsune of the Moon**_ **.**

 **Disclaimer: I own neither** _ **Naruto**_ **or** _ **Percy Jackson and the Olympians**_ **and related works, I think the later might be owned by Disney.**

* * *

With another swing of his tails the mighty Kyubi, a giant, orange furred, nine-tailed fox, created another typhoon and released it towards the ships trying to invade the islands. Although the god-like monster was helping to defend the country, that was just a byproduct of him venting his rage. True, he may have once been described as evil, but that was when he was being a rebellious teenager.

That changed when he first saw his mate. Seeing her help others made the giant fox want to be better so that he'd be deserving of her. Of course, her being a human and him a kitsune posed a problem, that was quickly solved when he changed his form. Through the years they grew close to each other and he grew to love her more. It was only after the woman came to him with tears in her eyes, saying that her family had arranged a marriage for her, that he revealed his secret, and that he knew of a way for her to join him for eternity. She didn't hesitate to say yes.

After the transformation ritual and introducing his new bride to his adoptive parents, the two were happy for a time, until jealousy caused grief. As his wife gained more power and more tails, many lesser demons questioned why one born as a human should be more powerful than those born full demons. It wasn't until his wife gained her eighth and final tail that someone acted on this thought.

Orochi, the eight headed snake, placed a curse on his wife, saying no life will come from her womb. The kitsune thought nothing of it at first, knowing of the difficulties in having children faced by those converted into demons. It was a happy surprise to learn that his wife was pregnant, but that happiness turned to sadness when the kit was delivered stillborn. At that time the Kyubi had managed to hold in his anger. But to rob him and his wife from a family a second time? As more wind was unleashed, the kitsune swore that if he ever saw the snake again, he'd end him.

The storm continued well into the night, only calming down when the Kyubi saw his wife approach. Even with her eight tails lowered in sadness, the fox couldn't help but think how stunning she looked in her red coat, the same shade her hair had been when she was a human. The two were silent as they sat alone, until the Kyubi spoke.

"I'm sorry," the kitsune began, "I know I should try to keep my anger in check, but I couldn't help myself." The fox continued as he nuzzled into his mate's neck, "I should be able to give you a family, but I can't."

"Honey," the eight-tailed kitsune began, "I love you. Yes, having a family is something I've dreamed about, but I think I can survive as long as I have you." Huffing as she laid down, the kitsune said, "I know how much having a kid means to you, but let's not try again. I don't think I could take only bringing death into the world."

As he laid beside his mate, the fox said, "For you, anything my dear."

* * *

After taking the night to calm down with his mate, the Kyubi decided to take a stroll through the town in his human form. As he aimlessly wandered, his mind reflected on possible cures or loopholes to the curse put on his mate. Yes, he said he'd stop trying, but he knew how much happiness having a child would bring to his wife. As he continued thinking, he's mind retrieved information on a few rituals he once glanced at years ago, but those wouldn't work, he'd never find anyone willing to help out.

As he walked through the village, the disguised kitsune noticed a few of the resident samurai were rushing off in the direction he was going. Having gained his interest, the man followed behind while keeping a short distance. His curiosity only heightened once they reached their destination. Standing in the center of the lane was a man taller than most of the village's population, his blond hair also set him apart. As he used a large, circular shield to block a samurai's katana, the Kyubi heard him speak in a foreign tongue. Not being able to understand the man, the kitsune shook the shoulder of the man in front of him. "Excuse me, but who is that?"

If the man was bothered by the interruption, he didn't show it. "No one knows. He came on a ship that pulled into the harbor after the storm. We don't understand what he wants either, he just walked into the tea house and began eating, he didn't even take off his sandals!" The man spent a brief second to collect himself after sharing such scandalous behavior. "When the waitress came to try to get him to leave, he picked her up and tried to go to the back room." The chaos in the street finally ended when someone from the crowd picked up a large rock and threw it at the man, hitting his head and knocking him out. As the samurai began dragging the man away, the man in front of the Kyubi shook his head. "No one even knows what the fool was saying, he kept spouting something that sounded like Ares."

The Kyubi knew that name. Despite never traveling out of the islands, the kitsune's adoptive mother insured her son had a complete education, including the little information that was learned of other civilizations. If he recalled correctly, Ares is the Greek god of war. One other piece of information slipped into the kitsune's mind, although the Greeks were long gone, assimilated by another civilization, they were known for many things, one of which could help in his current predicament.

Despite this, the kitsune did not let a smile appear on his face as he told the man, "Thank you for your time, sorry for the disturbance."

The man only nodded his head as he watched the stranger walk away.

* * *

After a bit more research into both the ritual and the various Greek deities, the Kyubi ran back to his den where he shared his thoughts with his mate. Although skeptical, the vixen still listened to her husband's ramblings. After he was finished talking, the female kitsune asked, "Are you sure this could work?"

"Given the right amount of planning, yes it is possible."

The vixen slowly stood up and walked towards her mate as she spoke. "Let's say this crazy plan of yours could work. Which one of these goddesses would you recruit?"

The Kyubi brought one of his hand-like paws to his chin as he thought aloud. "None of the minor ones will work, they just aren't strong enough. Hera is out, the goddess of marriage is never going to have an affair. Athena has her "brain children" but that won't work for our purposes, not to mention she's a sworn virgin. The same applies to Hestia and Artemis. So I would say our best bet would be Aphrodite, she seems to sleep with just about anyone and anything."

By now the vixen was standing in front of her mate, "You know how much I would like a child. If we're doing this then you need to observe the goddesses. I'm not going into this half-cocked, make sure you make the right choice."

The kitsune smiled at his mate as he said, "Of course dear."

* * *

The Kyubi was glad that he got his adoptive dad to teach him the crystal ball spell, even if the old man intended to use it for less than noble purposes. It took a lot concentration but it worked for the fox's purposes. Just as he thought Hera wouldn't work, despite being married to someone with no problem starting numerous affairs, she showed no signs of participating in one herself. Athena also proved to be a dead end, the numerous children born from thoughts negated any desire she may have to help the kitsune couple. The kitsune would admit Hestia looked cute, but her true form was just too young for him.

The last two proved to be the biggest shockers. The Kyubi thought it would be a slam dunk with Aphrodite. Just as he predicted the goddess didn't seem to have any problem sleeping around, but it was her children that proved to be the deal breaker. Whiney, arrogant, slobs! And that was just her sons, the fox didn't want to imagine what her daughters are like.

Artemis was a different story. Although the kitsune knew she preferred a form of a pre-teen girl, the crystal ball revealed her true form, a women in her mid-twenties with raven black hair and silver eyes matching her tunic. The fox could not say how many hours he sat in front of the crystal ball as he watched the goddess, saw her determination in completing her hunt, saw her care for those under her command, saw the moon goddess' radiant smile. Soon the Kyubi felt something he'd only felt for one other person, his mate. While he still loved his vixen with his entire heart, this goddess seemed determine to have a place in it as well. As he continued observing the goddess, the kitsune wondered how he'd explain this new development to his wife. It turned out she had a better grasp on the situation than he thought.

"You've fallen for her haven't you?" the vixen asked suddenly one day.

Knowing that he couldn't hide the truth from his mate, the Kyubi bowed his head and waited for his punishment as he said, "Yes, I have, but my heart has and will always belong to you as well." When he didn't fell anything, the kitsune hazard a glance upwards to see his wife using the crystal ball to observe the goddess.

"I can see why, she is beautiful," the two kitsune watched as the women used her bow to shoot a hellhound from 75 yards away before unsheathing a hunting knife to dispatch another monster that tried to sneak up on the woman, "and quite skilled."

"You're not mad?" the kitsune questioned his mate.

"Honey, you know I love you," the vixen began, using one of her tails to stroke her husband's chin, "and I would never betray you, but we can only make love so many ways. After a while, it becomes a little routine. Not to mention," here the vixen shifted her attention back to the image of Artemis, the goddess removing her tunic in preparation to bathe, "I am a little curious. So what do we do now?"

As a small amount of blood leaked from the Kyubi's nose, the fox began, "We have our target, now we just need to set the bait, prepare the trap, and get ready for the aftermath. This will take some time."

"That's okay," the vixen replied, "you're nothing if not patient, and I've waited this long for a child, I can wait a few hundred years more." The vixen's smile took on a more seductive quality as she said, "Not to mention we can practice while we wait."

* * *

As his wife said, the Kyubi was nothing if not patient. While some fool would try to kidnap the goddess or rush into the situation unprepared, the kitsune waited patiently for the opportunity to act. He saw his chance centuries later in the opening days of the conflict between the sons and legacies of Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. While sitting outside the mansion, the fox watched as the woman talked to the God before she stood up, gave the man a kiss on the cheek, and walked into another room. The man seemed to be at ease, until he sat up ramrod straight.

Knowing he had seconds to act, the kitsune assumed his ethereal form, his wife kept insisting he changed the name to "ghost form", before speeding through the walls of the mansion. Finding his target, the kitsune then skewed the woman with one of his tails, stealing her soul. His task done, the kitsune ran downwards to avoid the lightening blast. Waiting a few seconds to ensure his safety, the Kyubi returned to the surface in time to see the man commanding a fury to take the children to some river. Once the man was alone, the kitsune made his presence known.

"Well you certainly made someone angry," the man turned to glare at the fox, not surprised it was speaking, "don't you Hades?"

"It's Lord Hades to you, you foreign pest." Hades spat with venom.

"Using a title implies you are strong then me, we both know that's not the case."

"What do you want Kyubi? The fates don't like it when pantheons intermingle."

"Straight to the point then?" the kitsune asked, "Fine, I'm here to offer you a deal."

"And what do you have that I would want?" Hades was growing tired of this conversation, he needed to leave and ensure his children would be protected.

In response, the Kyubi asked, "How's your wife doing?"

Hades' hair seemed to ignite as he said, "I have already lost one love today, if you have done anything…" only to be interrupted when he was smacked by one of the fox's tails.

"She must be fading pretty fast, mortals forgetting the old tales of her reuniting loved ones in the next life, or how it was her idea to spend six months with you and six with her mother." The Kyubi paused to look the god directly in the eyes as he said, "Not to mention you are one of the few who genuinely loves your spouse, this is only one of a handful of mortal affairs you ever had, and you've only chased after a few nymphs while the rest of your family has gone after hundreds."

"Do you have a point to this or do you just like hearing yourself talk?"

"Well Hades," the kitsune began as he brought the woman's soul forward, "have you ever heard the phrase, 'the best of both worlds'?"

The ruler of the Underworld stared in shock before whispering, "Impossible, the lightening bolt is too powerful, her soul should have been disintegrated."

"And that is why I plucked it from her body the second before your brother launched his weapon." Passing the soul from one tail to the other, the Kyubi said, "You take this soul to the Underworld and you can fuse it with your wife, she'll be healed and periodically this woman's personality will be in charge."

"You said this was a deal, just what do you want?"

"A path to a chamber in the Underworld, one where you and your family can't see what is occurring. I want one time use of this chamber at a time of my choosing."

Hades knew that what the fox was asking was a lot, he was essentially being asked to be blind in his own domain. But for the chance to save not one, but two of his beloveds…"Fine, give me Maria's soul and you have a deal."

"Swear it on the River Styx."

Gritting his teeth, Hades said, "I, Hades, swear on the River Styx to honor our deal." After a bolt of lightning lit up the sky, the Kyubi smiled before placing the soul in the god's outstretched hand.

"Pleasure doing business with you." As the kitsune walked away, he thought, 'My vixen has already scouted the area. The trap is set and we're prepared for the aftermath, now we just need the bait.'

* * *

40 years later

Apollo was not having a good day. After listening to another lecture from his father about finding a woman to settle down with, seriously what gave the man the right to talk about that considering how many half-siblings the Sun god had, he ended up gaining the wrath of his sister, but it wasn't his fault! She knew that he was spending time with one of his sons. Seriously if she didn't want the girl she rescued from Russia, what was her name? Natasha? Alana? Something along those lines. Anyway, if she didn't want one of her huntress to fall in love, she should know better than to bring them around his sons, or daughters in some cases.

Thankfully Apollo was able to spare his son and the girl from his sister's wrath, but now the entirety of her anger was directed at him. After a tactical retreat from his sister, Apollo assumed mortal form in the first country he landed in, Japan. As he walked around the busy streets, the god accidently walked into a man, causing him to drop his suitcase. Bending down, the Sun gods said, "Sorry, let me help you with that."

"No really, it's no trouble," the man began before he saw who he was talking to. Immediately the man diverted his eyes as he bowed and said, "My apologizes Lord Apollo."

Raising an eyebrow at finding someone clear sighted, Apollo quickly said, "It's fine, now get up, you're creating a scene."

"Right, sorry my lord." Once the man was standing, the god got a good look at him. Spiky blond hair, tanned skin, blue eyes, and a sharp jaw line. If Apollo wasn't sure that he'd never visited the country before, he'd be willing to be the man was either his kid or one of his decedents.

"Okay, who is your parent?"

"Two ordinary mortals," the man said before stopping abruptly and saying, "Oh, please forgive me, I have yet to introduce myself. My name is Minato Namikaze, it is a pleasure to meet you."

"Right Minato," the god ideally said as he followed the man, "well I'm going to be stuck her for a few days until my sister cools down, what is there to do around here?"

The man scratched his cheek as he said, "I'm not too sure myself, I just came to visit my wife's shrine." Although curious as to what the man meant, Apollo choose to remain silent and simply follow the man. Soon enough the pair came to a fairly large temple. As they walked inside the walled area, the god noticed many of the attendants looked away from Minato.

"Quite the warm welcome, isn't it?" the god sarcastically commented.

"That would be my fault." Sensing the god's question, Minato elaborated, "Some of my ancestors were Dutch traders, giving my family members some European features. We were seen as different and trouble makers, as such we were pushed to the margins of society. My father started with nothing before founding his business, even then he was lucky he was able to marry my mother. When he had enough saved up, he didn't hesitate to move himself and his bride to America." As the two walked towards the main temple, Minato continued his tale, "I grew up in the states, but my wife was born here. I met her while she was studying abroad. We fell in love and she disobeyed her parents, when they said she needed to return home she instead married me and stated in America."

"So basically you stole the family's pride and joy." The god had to suppress a chuckle as Minato said, "She was also being trained to be a shrine maiden."

As the two men entered the temple, Apollo was awed upon seeing the massive mural depicting a gigantic, nine-tailed fox. Minato smirked at the god's reaction before saying, "The Kyubi, a powerful kitsune that is said to protect the area. Some legends say he is the cause to the typhoons that protected the islands from Mongol invasion."

Apollo only nodded when he heard this. At least now he knew how to get back in Artemis' good graces.

* * *

"Alright, we'll camp here tonight." Artemis commanded her huntresses. As the group set up the tents in the forest surrounding the small city, the goddess began to reflect on why she began this task. After searching for her idiotic brother for over a week, she finally found him spouting those ridiculous haikus. After the god dodged several arrows to his lower regions, he finally got his twin sister to listen to him.

Apparently he had heard tales of a beast she had yet to hunt, a nine-tailed fox as powerful as they were. While she doubted the existence of such a monster, her curiosity was peaked. After doing a bit more research on this "Kyubi", she decided it was time for a hunt, she needed a new trophy. After scouting the area, she and her huntresses decided to focus their efforts in the forest, believing a semi-intelligent monster would stay away from human conflict.

As she scanned the perimeter of the camp, Artemis suddenly saw a flash of orange. Believing she'd at last caught sight of her prey, the goddess called out, "Zoë, gather the hunters and follow me."

What followed next was a desperate chase with the goddess determine to keep sight of her prey. Eventually she got close enough to actually see the monster, somewhat surprised her twin actually told her the truth, she thought this was just another prank. While she released arrow after arrow, the moon goddess was too focused on her hunt to notice that one by one her huntresses disappeared. Finally, with her last arrow, Artemis drew a deep breath before releasing her bow sting.

While she expected the fox to continue running. Instead, the Kyubi surprised her by stopping and using one of its tails to catch the arrow mid-flight. Artemis was further surprised when the fox spoke. "Now that you're out of arrows, perhaps we can have a civilized conversation."

"I maybe out, but you have forgotten about my huntresses." The goddess declared with a smirk.

The fox smirked back as he said, "Actually I haven't, my mate is quite skilled with creating pocket dimensions."

Artemis barely contained her rage as she reached for her hunting knife, "If you have harmed them…"

"Relax, they are safe and will be returned to you after you've heard my offer."

Raising an eyebrow, the woman asked, "And just what do you have that I could possible want?"

"It's not what I have, but what you can provide." The Kyubi cryptically responded. "My mate and I want a child."

"Good for you, I'm sure you know the process."

The kitsune became enraged as he shouted, "Don't you think we've tried that! My mate wasn't born a demon, but she loved me still. She choose to become one, and others grew jealous as she gained more power. She's been cursed so that no life may come from her womb."

After hearing this detail, the goddess' attitude softened slightly. "I'm sorry to hear that, but what does that have to do with me?"

"In my youth I stumbled upon a unique ritual," the fox began, "after researching it more I believe it is the solution. The curse specifies my wife's womb, but doesn't say anything about her DNA."

"How dare you!" It was now Artemis' turn to be enraged, "I swore a sacred oath!"

"Yes I know, and you've done a fine job keeping it. Just as well as Hestia, while your one half-sister exploited a loophole. My mate and I are looking to do something similar."

Having confirmation on what the ritual entailed, Artemis blushed while she said, "Even if I didn't swear that oath, and while I maybe the goddess of the hunt, I'm not into bestiality."

The Kyubi snorted before saying, "Your father can conceive a child in a variety of forms, including a beam of light and an ox. Do you really think you Greeks are the only ones that can change form? My mate and I have human forms as well." The fox got up to leave, but turned to say, "You must feel it too, the desire to have children, you must long to see a smiling face that you can call your own. Whatever you decided please return here tomorrow night and let me and my mate know your choice."

After the fox left, the forest was quiet for a second before the goddess of the moon saw a white flash. When her vision recovered, Artemis found that all of her missing huntresses were returned to her. "My lady, are you hurt?"

"No Zoë," the goddess said, "I just have a lot to think about. Come let us return to camp."

* * *

As Artemis stared up at her moon, she wondered about what the kitsune had said. She, Athena, and Hestia had made their oaths in their youth. After a few centuries she and Athena ran into difficulties, mortals would say they felt their biological clocks ticking. Hestia never ran into this issue, her true form staying a child. As the Kyubi said, Athena found a loop hole with her brain children, recreating how she was born. But this option was not available for Artemis, instead the goddess of the moon had started looking after any girl she could rescue. True some died during the hunt while others managed to fall in love, but she had been content. Then the fox came and offered her something she desperately wanted. By the time she first desired a child of her own, she had witnessed the damage a broken oath could do, and so she created her man-hater image predicting that no man would risk getting close to her thus she didn't need to be concerned with the issue. But now? Now she wasn't sure what to do.

"My Lady?" Zoë asked as she slowly approached.

"Yes Zoë?"

"I just thought that thou should know me and the other girls heard the offer." Dread filled Artemis, she knew that she could refuse the fox as long as she had her huntresses, but she feared that they would abandon the hunt now that they knew what was said. Zoë continued, "We all agreed, we will not think any different of thou no matter what you choose.

Shocking the girl, Artemis brought her into a tight hug, "Thank you Zoë, you'll be in charge of the girls tomorrow night."

"Does this mean that thou has thy answer my Lady?" the lieutenant of the hunt asked.

"Yes, I do."

* * *

The Next Night

Anxiety filled Artemis as she walked through the forest to where she'd previously spoken to the Kyubi. As promised, the orange fox was waiting for her, along with a red coated vixen. The kitsune didn't waste any time as he asked, "Do you have your answer?"

Swallowing the lump in her throat, Artemis began, "Say that I agree with your offer, you do know that the Fates don't take kindly to oath breakers, I can't be punished but the child may be."

"They would have a hard time touching the kid. Being a mix of two pantheons would make it difficult for certain creatures and individuals to harm them." The vixen quickly countered.

"And where would I give birth? My brother would be sure to spot me."

"This is not the first time I have dealt with Greeks, your Uncle owes me a favor which I can cash in at any time, say nine months from now."

"And what about afterwards, I highly doubt I'd give birth to a fox kit."

"A man recently visited my shrine," the Kyubi started to say, "he and his wife recently discovered she is infertile. Both are clear sighted, if you conceive a human they will raise the child until it begins shifting, we will always stay nearby to keep an eye on them."

Artemis sighed before saying, "If it is a girl she is joining my hunt when she is of age."

The vixen's ears perked up as she said, "Does this mean you accept our offer."

"Although I feel I'll regret it, yes I agree." Snapping her fingers, the goddess caused her tunic to disappear. While she stood nude, she saw that neither kitsune changed form. "Aren't you going to change?"

Instead of answering, the Kyubi swung on of his tails onto the ground. When he raised the limb, he revealed a blindfold and some rope. Seeing the goddess confusion, the vixen spoke up, "The public personas of my mate and myself are well known to quite a few individuals, it is likely at some point we'll meet again. While the fates may have difficulty punishing your offspring but they will still try. The longer you remain ignorant of our identities the safer the child will be." Artemis nodded at the logic, before shifting her gaze to the ropes. The vixen scratched the back of her head before saying, "We understand the act may be a little shocking to you, we just want to make sure no one gets hurt."

Carefully holding the blindfold, the goddess asked, "So how would this ritual even work?"

"Basically I'd fertilize one of my wife's eggs before taking the genetic material from my wife and depositing it with you where it will fuse with one of your eggs, effectively making each of us contribute a third of the total DNA."

"So you would fuck your wife before doing the same to me?" Artemis questioned.

"In basic terms, yes." Seeing how the goddess continued to hold the blindfold in her hands, the Kyubi continued. "This is your last chance to back out, once you put that blindfold on there is no going back."

"Let's just get this over with." the moon goddess said as she slid the blindfold on before feeling her arms and legs restrained.

"Oh don't worry," the Kyubi began before his voice shifted, becoming higher pitched, "I'll make sure you find pleasure in this."

The beast didn't lie.

* * *

As the Sun was rising, Artemis lay still before sliding off the blindfold and looking for her tunic before remembering she could summon a new one. As she walked around she saw that her companies from the previous night had already shifted back to their monstrous form. Upon seeing that the goddess was up, the two kitsune asked if she needed anything.

"No, I'm good." The goddess said before asking, "So what now?"

"Now we wait," the Kyubi responded before using his tail to write a set of co-ordinates in the dirt. "In nine months come to this place, you'll find a cave with me and my mate waiting, then we'll see what happens."

Artemis nodded before wishing the two kitsune luck and departing back to her camp.

* * *

Artemis continued in her duties for as long as she was able. Once she could not hide her pregnancy any longer, she had Zoë fly her chariot and sent a message to her father saying that she was hunting some very illusive prey and needed to do so on her own. Finally nine months had passed, and as instructed Artemis made her way to the cave, unsurprised to find the two kitsune waiting for her with a hospital bed. After getting the goddess settled in, it was only a matter of waiting, which didn't take long.

After six hours of labor, Artemis finally birthed her child. Although slightly disappointed it was a boy, she still smiled when she saw his blond tuffs of hair and the glimpse of his ocean blue eyes. She did laugh a little at his whisker like birthmarks, it was a shame the mist would prevent mortals from seeing them. As she held her son, Artemis asked the two kitsune, "What is his name?"

The two foxes looked at one another before the Kyubi spoke, "We were thinking of naming him Naruto."

"Naruto," Artemis repeated the odd name, seeing her son give the briefest of smiles, "well he seems to like it."

Seeing the goddess' smile at holding her son, the two kitsune nodded before the vixen spoke, "We'll leave you alone with him for as long as you need, when you are ready you'll find the address of the couple we selected to raise him up near the entrance." Artemis nodded at her words as she rocked her boy to sleep.

After spending a few hours holding her son, and letting her body burn off the accumulated pregnancy weight, Artemis decided it was time to meet her son's foster parents. After quickly changing into a black blouse, a silver jacket, and grey jeans, the goddess picked up her sleeping son before journeying upward. As the vixen had said, there was a note with an address somewhere in San Francisco, the moon goddess supposed it'd be easier for the two kitsune to conceal themselves among other monsters.

After a quick trip in her carriage, Artemis slowly walked up the steps before knocking on the front door. A moment later it opened to reveal a woman with long red hair, violet eyes, and wearing a green dress. Quickly bowing, the woman said, "Welcome Lady Artemis," the woman looked at Naruto with a brief glance upwards and asked, "Is he the one the Kyubi and his mate spoke of?"

Nodding, Artemis said, "He is, may I come inside?"

"Of course." Stepping aside, the woman eagerly showed the woman to the living room, where a blond hair, blue-eyed man was waiting. Standing, the man bowed to Artemis before saying, "Welcome to our home Lady Artemis. You've already met my wife Kushina, my name is Minato Namikaze."

* * *

 **And with 12 pages, that's a wrap for the first chapter of** _ **Kitsune of the Moon**_ **. I hope everyone enjoyed the first chapter, and don't worry there will be more to come.**

 **So as I said before, this is one of four stories that I chose to start for a variety of reasons. Now can I ask my readers to do me a favor? If you haven't already done so, could you read the first chapters of** _ **Lost Legacy**_ **,** _ **Deathwing**_ **, and** _ **The Bat and the Cat**_ **and vote in the poll as to which one you enjoyed the most? This is partially to help me decide the update schedule.** _ **A New Realm**_ **and** _ **Son of the Sun**_ **are my "A" stories that I tend to spend the most time thinking of ideas for updates while** _ **One Small Change**_ **is my "B" story that I write when I have writers block. I'm getting pretty close to a point in** _ **A New Realm**_ **where I'm going to need to stop for an extended period of time to do a little research. I don't want to stop writing for this site because my style suffers from it and it becomes harder to get motivated to start writing again, so I want to have a few "C soon to be B" stories up and ready to go when that time come.**

 **So I think this was a good way to start the story, but there are a few questions, such as…**

 **What powers will Naruto develop?**

 **What are the public identities of the Kyubi and his vixen?**

 **Which story do my readers like best? (That one is up to you guys and gals)**

 **For the answers to these questions and more, be sure to stay tuned for more** _ **Kitsune of the Moon**_ **.**

 **But for now, I'm acw28 saying, "until next update."**


	2. II

**Hey everyone, it's acw28 back with the next chapter of** ** _Kitsune of the Moon_** **!**

 **So this story won my poll and is getting updated first. I wasn't really surprised by that, this section of the site tends to be one of the bigger crossovers for Naruto, while my other stories was a crossover for a smaller section of the site, another was for a popular movie put still has less stories than the** ** _Naruto_** **section, and my last story was for a late 90s, early 2000s cartoon that hardly has anything on the site. What did surprise me was how the other three stories tied. For those of you who liked the other stories in the poll, I'll figure out some way to find an update order, but for now I'm focusing on this story.**

 **One thing I feel the need to address before we begin, Artemis' willingness to break her oath. I felt that I had explained this sufficiently, but I guess I didn't. Admittedly, it was a bit of lazy writing, but at the same time this is Fanfiction, the characters don't have to 100% fall in line with their cannon counterparts. I thought I had made it clear that Artemis longed for a child of her own, that one of the reasons for forming the Huntresses was to find a way to fill the void. Literally everyone around her, save for Hestia, was having children, wouldn't she be curious as to how it felt? Then she also had the approval of her Huntresses, the group of people whose opinion she highly values. So yes, she did break her vow, but then again so did Zeus and Poseidon. Really the only person I could think of in the Percy Jackson cannon or in Greek myths that actually kept their vow/oath is Odysseus' wife.**

 **So with that out of the way, let's move onto the story. Fair warning, this is probably going to be a short chapter and will jump around a bit.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own either the** ** _Percy Jackson_** **franchise, the** ** _Naruto_** **franchise, or any other series that may be referenced in this work. This is all for fun, I'm not making a profit, please don't sue me.**

* * *

"Come on Mom!" a seven-year-old Naruto Namikaze said as he dragged Kushina towards the park. The red head only chuckled as she allowed herself to move faster. The almost physical need to constantly keep moving was just one of the quarks her son had, such as him constantly wearing at least some orange. Again the thought of having the boy tested for ADHD crossed her mind. Artemis had told both her and Minato that the disorder often affected demigods, along with dyslexia. Although Naruto was positive for dyslexia, Minato still felt that Naruto was just a kid with too much energy, citing how he was able to hyper focus on any subject that caught his interest and always seemed to be learning something new.

Finally the pair reached their destination, a small park a couple of blocks away from their home. As she watched her son run off towards the jungle gym, Kushina made her way to one of the benches to keep an eye on her son. She was only half surprised to hear a voice ask, "Everything going alright?"

Turning her head to the side, Kushina saw a women with midnight black hair and silver eyes. Unlike what many Olympians did with their demigods, Artemis had stayed active in Naruto's life. Perhaps it was because he was her first child she'd birthed, or maybe it was the events surrounding his conception Either way, Minato and Kushina were glad the goddess was so involved in Naruto's upbringing. The boy himself though it was cool how his "aunt" had the same name as one of the goddess from the Greek myths he loved to hear so much.

That brought about another point, Naruto still didn't know that Artemis is his birth mother. The couple knew it'd be difficult to explain who Artemis really was, much less that the Greek myths are actual real, and that's not even getting started on the whole Kyubi situation. However, all of that was forgotten when Artemis asked, "So how as he been?"

Kushina smiled as she said, "Wonderful. He's getting good grades in school and has torn through every book we've given him. He's also constantly building something with his LEGOs before tearing it down to build something bigger."

The goddess smiled at that, "If I didn't know any better I'd say he was one of Athena's." Artemis then turned away slightly before asking, "And how has Minato been doing?"

This simple question threw Kushina for a loop. Sure the two had talked whenever Artemis visited the house, but it was more so that the goddess was neutral towards him. Being the first time in seven years she'd heard the question, Kushina turned to her friend, noticing a slight color to her cheeks. After finding her voice, Kushina said, "He's doing fine, working another case for the department but refuses to bring his work home with him, saying he doesn't want his professional and personal lives mixing." Feeling bold, Kushin nudged Artemis with her elbow and asked, "I don't have to worry about you stealing my man do I?"

"No, no, no." Artemis quickly said as she waved her hands. After regaining her composure, the moon goddess said, "It's just that he's one of the few people I can be around where I don't have to be 'Artemis the Man-hater.' I've visited a few times to help with Naruto when you had PTA meetings. We talked for a while after Naruto went to bed, and from their things just grew." Looking straight into Kushina's eyes, Artemis said, "I don't know what to do with these feelings, but I promise you I'm not trying to take Minato from you."

"It's fine, I understand." Kushina quickly said. Seeing the goddess relax, the woman decide to have a little more fun. "Although if you really wanted to, I'm sure the three of us can come to some sort of agreement." The red head couldn't help but laugh as the goddess' jaw dropped. Before the goddess could respond, the two heard a child shriek, followed by an older boy running away while covering a black eye, and was she imagining the bit of electricity jumping off his hair? "Ah, a mother's work is never done." Kushina commented as she got up to find out what Naruto had done this time.

What she found was her son, along with a girl with black hair and electric blue eyes, helping a younger black boy with brown hair stand back up. "Naruto, do you want to tell me what happened? And who are your new friends"

Hoping he wasn't in trouble, Naruto quickly said, "I was playing with Thalia when we saw that bully shoving Carter to the ground. We tried to asking him to stop, but he wouldn't listen, so I punched his face." Seeing the look his mother was giving him, Naruto quickly added, "Thalia hit him too."

"Ordinarily violence is not the answer," a new voice said as the group turned to see a woman with long blond hair and blue eyes. As the woman struggled with a baby girl wiggling in her arms, she bent down to hug Carter, "but I still must thank you for helping me son."

Before she could stop herself, Kushina questioned aloud, "He's _your_ son?"

The woman seemed to be use to the question, but still glared at the red head and answered, "Yes he is, do you have an issue with that?"

Hoping to calm the situation Kushina quickly said, "No not at all. It looks like we got off on the wrong foot, Miss…?"

"Ruby Kane."

"As in the anthropologists?" Kushina quickly asked.

Now it was Ruby's turn to be surprised. "Yes, although I'm afraid it's been some time since I've lectured at the University."

"We really must have you and your family over for dinner sometime," Kushina stated before adding, "I would love to hear your latest research on ancient DNA, and I'm sure my husband wouldn't miss the chance to discuss with your husband the similarities between Greco-Roman and Egyptian myths."

Although slight, Kushina still could see the other woman tense when she heard the word myth. "That sounds grand; it'll also give Carter a chance to get to know his new friend better. We'll have to discuss the details later Miss?"

"Kushina Namikaze, and this is my son Naruto." Ruby nodded at that and after her and Carter said goodbye, walked away into the crowd. During the entire conversation Naruto and Thalia had calmly stood and waited until the adults were done talking. Kushina was about to ask the girl how she met Naruto, only to hear someone calling the girl's name. On the other side of the playground stood a blond, blue eyed woman with a baby in her arms.

"That's my mom." Thalia quickly stated before giving Naruto a brief hug and saying, "Bye whiskers."

As the girl ran off, Kushina nudged Naruto towards Artemis, who he greeted with a hug. As she watched the two, Kushina's thoughts raced, 'That girl was able to see through the mist, must be a demigod, but Greek or Roman?' She then turned her head back in the direction the girl had ran, noticing her walking in front of the woman, as well as a man with black hair as well as another woman. 'Well that's certainly interesting.'

* * *

Artemis took a deep breath to relax her nerves. It had been a little over a year since Naruto had meet Thalia and Carter and had remained good friends with the children. Minato and Kushina also got along with the Kane's, although the Namikazes along with the goddess were shocked to learn they knew about the Greek gods and were actually magicians who still followed the Egyptian gods. As for Thalia's mother, Beryl Grace, after the initial meeting no one really got along with her as the woman was self-absorbed and openly talked of how she planned on getting a trip to Olympus and remaining eternally beautiful, even if it meant leaving her children behind. The goddess shook those thoughts from her head as she focused on the present issue. She, Kushina, and Minato had decided to tell Naruto the entire truth of his birth tonight, which happened to be on his eight birthday.

Finally feeling relaxed enough, Artemis grabbed her son's gift from the place she'd hidden it in her temple and was getting ready to leave Olympus only to be stopped by her twin.

"Dear sister, I feel as if I never see you again!" Apollo shouted.

"That would be because I'm usually with my Huntresses, and I don't need you to attempt to seduce anymore of them." Artemis coldly replied.

"Oh, younger sister you wound me!" Apollo exaggerated a stumble, earning laughter from a few nearby nymphs. Before the moon goddess could remain her brother she was born first, he said something that chilled her to the bone. "You've changed a lot," after a quick glance at her form, the sun god continued, "I never see you in your younger form, and it seems you've been favoring an adult one for the past few years."

"What can I say, I felt it was time for a change." Artemis quickly defended.

Apollo never lost his smile as he looked down on her, gods how Artemis hated how he was constantly taller than her. "Being the god of truth means I know when you're lying. Go ahead and try to keep your secrets sweet sister, but you know I'll find out the truth eventually."

Although she didn't show it, Artemis was slightly worried about her brother's promise. Never the less, the goddess didn't let it affect her as she left Olympus and quickly traveled to San Francisco. Arriving at the Namikaze residents, the moon goddess was almost pushed down due to the crash hug she got from the birthday boy, who kept asking what she got him. After laughing at the boy's antics, Artemis promised he'd get his gift later before moving inside to greet Kushina and Minato.

The party was a small affair, just her, Naruto, and his "parents". After blowing out the candles and eating the cake, and seeing it was growing dark outside, the three adults knew they couldn't delay the conversation any longer. After getting Naruto into the living room, Artemis began. "Naruto, you know all those Greek myths you always read?"

"Yeah, I still think it's awesome you were named after the moon goddess." Naruto answered, not seeing where this was going.

"What if I told you I wasn't named after her, but that I am her?" Seeing the disbelief in the boy's eyes, the goddess allowed a bit of her power to leak out, causing her form to glow in a silver light.

Naruto stared wide-eyed before declaring, "This is awesome!"

Artemis just continued to smile before saying, "Now you know how there aren't any stories about me having children?" Still bouncing with excitement from the latest revelation, Naruto just nodded his head. "Well, that isn't exactly true." For the next half hour the goddess explained the circumstances in which she'd meet the kitsune, how she'd agreed to their plan and how he came to be with the Namikaze.

The boy sat in silence, his earlier excitement gone. As he stared at the floor the three adults barley heard him mutter, "So I'm a monster."

Artemis was quick to stop that line of thinking. "No, you're not." Naruto opened his mouth to retort, but the goddess didn't give him a chance to speak. "I've hunted many stray Cyclops, but I've also meet many noble Cyclops working in my uncle's forge. Biologically you may be a fox, but it's your actions that define whether or not you're a monster."

Hearing those words seemed to calm the boy down, but then he had another question, "So if I'm two thirds Kitsune, how come I don't have a fur coat?"

It was Minato's turn to answer the question, "From what your mother, that is Kushina, and I could figure out, it's because you're not powerful enough to shapeshift. Kitsunes are born in their fox form but need to gain power before they can shape shift. Due to your abnormal birth, you need to wait a few more years until you have that power."

"But then we have another problem," Kushina spoke up now, "now that you know about everything your scent will become more potent. While your scent won't be as strong as a child's of the big three, and your Kitsune parts may help cover it up, you're still going to attract a few monsters."

"I think I have the solution to that" Artemis declared as she passed her son his birthday gift. The boy excitedly unwrapped the small box before pulling out a sheathed bowie knife with a ring on the underside of the cross guard on the far side of the handle. At his mother's urging, Naruto pulled some of the blade out of the sheath, revealing the blade to be made of silver. "Enchanted silver, just like my knife and arrowheads. Of course yours has an extra surprise that I'll teach you how to use properly."

Before Artemis could continue, Naruto hugged her as he said, "Thanks mom." The goddess just smiled as she returned the hug. As she knelt down next to the boy, she was able to catch sight of Minato and Kushina, surprisingly neither one seemed upset with Naruto had called her, both only continued to smile at the scene.

The rest of the night was spent teaching Naruto the basics of using his knife, Artemis deciding to save his weapon's surprise for another day. As the boy began to tire, Kushina began to get the boy ready for bed while informing him he wasn't allowed to tell his friends about what he learned and that he was forbidden from showing off his knife. As Kushina carried the boy upstairs, Artemis walked over to Minato.

"We have another problem," the goddess abruptly said, "my brother knows I'm hiding something and he isn't likely to let it go."

"That could be a problem." Minato admitted as he rubbed his chin before asking, "What if he had a distraction."

"That could work, but you'll need something spectacular to distract Apollo."

"I think I know just the thing," Minato stated before adding, "I just hope that Julius won't be too angry with me."

* * *

'I never did like the night,' Apollo mused to himself as he wondered the streets of London. The night was never Apollo's favorite time. Sure it was the time of day when he usually was on the prowl for his new lovers, but as the Sun God the night sky just had a way of putting him on edge. Maybe it was because he felt his sister's eyes watching him during each seduction, who knew. Whatever the case, the god had put his chariot on auto piolet and shook off his heebie jeebies as he found the pub his friend said to meet at, who he quickly found due to his distinctive hair.

"Minato, how have you been?" Apollo questioned as he walked forward. After meeting in Japan the two had kept in relative contact. While the sun god didn't visit every day, he had stopped by Minato's home occasionally and had met his son. The god even made a pass at the blonde's lovely wife, but one hit with the dreaded frying pan and ladle combo was enough for Apollo to get the message.

"Ah Apollo, nice to see you once more." Minato then indicated a tall bald black man that sat next to him, nursing a bottle of beer, "This is my friend Julius Kane." Julius just nodded to the god before going back to his drink. Minato's voice took a serious tone as he said, "You'll have to forgive him, he just lost his wife in a terrible accident tonight."

"My condolences," the sun god quickly offered before turning back to Minato and snatching the new bottle from the man's hand, "now what is it that you called me here for?"

Minato gave a small smile before pointing to the back corner of the pub where a woman in a business suit sat alone. "She's been there all night, turning away any guy that tries to talk to her. I figured no one better to show her a good time than my friend Apollo."

Said god smirked before saying, "Challenge accepted." and strutted off. Only once the god got closer to the woman could he better make out her features. She appeared to have black hair and her skin had a dark tinge to it, for some reason Apollo thought she may be of Egyptian descent. As he took the unoccupied seat, the god introduced himself, "Hi there, I'm Anthony, and who might you be?"

The woman was unamused at the introduction. As she glared at Apollo with her amber eyes, which the god felt himself becoming enticed by, she said, "Look, I'm going to tell you what I've already told everyone else. I just got promoted from a job that took the majority of my time to another job that's equally as demanding. I only have this one night to enjoy myself so please, kindly leave me alone." The woman finished her statement by taking a gulp from her pint glass, her third if the empty ones on the table were any indication.

Apollo was unfazed at the woman's words as he grabbed a napkin and a pen from his pocket. "If you're looking for a good time I can show you one. This is the last I'll bother you, if you say no I'll get up and walk away. Right now I'm going write down a number that I'm sure will change your mind." His piece said, the god in disguise clicked his pen and slid the paper across the table.

The woman still slightly glared at him but humored him and looked at what he'd written. Apollo enjoyed how her eyes widened and then how she not so subtly glanced below his waistline.

"There is no way that's true." The woman declared.

"Perhaps," Apollo admitted, "I'm not use to using metric so my estimation maybe a little off. So what do you say miss?"

The god had his answer when the woman quickly downed the rest of her pint before calling for her check. Once the waitress ran off to get the bill, the woman grabbed the front of Apollo's shirt and pulled him across the table for a long and heated kiss. After separating the woman said, "I say that I'm going to enjoy my one night, and you can call me Bethany."

The sun god only smirked as he said, "Charmed to meet you."

* * *

As the sunlight entered the window and settled on Apollo's face, the god roused himself from a deep sleep. After stretching, the sun god smirked as he recalled the previous night's events. He enjoyed the small bit of conversation he had with Bethany on the cab ride over, but once back in her room it was straight to business. The leopard print lingerie was a welcome surprise, not to mention the woman was far too flexible for her own good, and dear him the things she could do with her tongue. The god was shaken from his thoughts when his latest partner walked out of the bathroom, fully dressed to his great disappointment.

"Good, you're already up." the woman began as she grabbed her purse, "Thanks for last night, it was something I've needed for a really long time."

"It was my pleasure," Apollo smoothly replied as he got up to search for his pants. Finding the clothing, he quickly pulled out his wallet before Bethany could open the door. "Listen, I had a great time last night. I get you're not looking for a relationship, but here's my card so maybe if you find yourself with some free time we could set something up?"

Bethany gave a smirk of her own as she took the card, "Sure, but don't think I'll take it easy on you next time."

Apollo once more smirked as he watched the woman walk away. For some reason he felt like he was forgetting something, but for the eternal life of him he couldn't put his finger on it. Oh well, if it was anything important he was sure there would be a prophesy, eventually.

* * *

Naruto's life continued to be normal for the next year. He went to school, hung out with Thalia before she disappeared, and trained in how to use his knife, he didn't mean to brag but the blonde had gotten pretty good with the blade and its surprise. Like any other day he was currently board out of his mind in English class, dyslexia could be a real pain sometimes. The teacher's lecture was interrupted when the loudspeaker came to life, "Naruto Namikaze to the front office, Naruto Namikaze to the front office." Groaning as his classmates began to snigger, Naruto made the quick walk to the office, not knowing what to expect.

The boy was mildly surprised when the receptionist pointed him to the principal's office, where the older man was talking to two police officers. "Is this the kid?" one of them asked.

"Yes, that's Mr. and Mrs. Namikaze's boy." the principal replied.

The other officer got down on one of his knees and starred directly into Naruto's eyes as he said, "Kid I need you to listen, something very bad has happened to your parents. Your dad was taking your mom out to lunch when the restaurant was shot up. They're in surgery right now, but it's not looking good. We think it may have something to do with a crime ring your old man was investigating, but he's got nothing at his office. Do you know if he's got anything at your house?"

Although several things didn't add up, Naruto still nodded his head as he said, "I think he said he's got a backup drive hidden at the house."

The other officer nodded before turning to the principal, "We're going to need to take the kid with us to find it."

The older man nodded before saying, "Of course, please bring him back when you are done. I'll call his grandparents in the meantime."

Still not believing what was going on, Naruto felt numb as he got in back of the police cruiser. As the car drove down the road, he overhead the officers speaking, and it wasn't in English.

" _So we get this backup and then we're good?_ " the one driving asked in what sounded like Greek.

" _Yep,"_ the other replied, " _the detective and his wife are taken care of and his office computer is wiped. After this we're in the clear. As for the kid,"_ the man glanced at Naruto in the rearview mirror, for a split second his two eyes merging, " _he's a little skinny but I'm not complaining about a free meal._ "

If Naruto wasn't afraid before he certainly was now. Luckily it didn't appear as if either of the monsters recognized their slip up. As the car continued moving closer to his house, Naruto thought of a plan.

Soon the police cruiser arrived at the Namikaze house. Naruto quietly lead the two monsters up the steps and through the door before going to the second floor. Pointing to his parent's bedroom, Naruto said, "Mom and Dad have a safe somewhere in their room. Dad says he keeps everything important in it."

The two men looked at each other before walking off, one saying, "Thanks kid." When he was sure they weren't paying attention, Naruto quietly made his way back downstairs and to the kitchen. Opening the doors under the sink, the boy was quick to grab his bug out bag, which contained, among other things, some rations, his knife, and a few different maps of the surrounding area. After double checking his supplies, and insuring that the monsters were still upstairs fruitlessly searching for the safe, Naruto quietly slipped out the back door and into the ally. From there he walked out the other side of the block and slipped in amongst the crowd. By the time the two monsters realized they'd been tricked and turned the house upside down looking for the kid, he was long gone.

* * *

 **As I said, this would be a short chapter, at only 9 pages. There wasn't a whole lot going on, it was mostly just building up a bit to get the plot rolling. The next chapter should be more action packed.**

 **So with this chapter done there's a few questions, such as…**

 **What happened to Thalia?**

 **What will Naruto do now?**

 **How will Artemis react to her son's disappearance?**

 **To find out the answers to all these questions and more, stay tuned for the next chapter of** ** _Kitsune of the Moon_** **!**

 **Until then, here's acw28 saying, "Until next update."**


	3. III

**Hello everyone, it's acw28, back with the next chapter of** _ **Kitsune of the Moon**_ **!**

 **So yeah, it's been awhile since my last update to this story. I'm sure my regular readers already know my reason for such a long period between updates; life, school, starting/updating other stories. On top of that my laptop broke, but thanks to the magic of Christmas sales I've got a new one. As always, I apologize for such a long wait (especially with that cliffhanger), so let's get right to the story.**

 **Last note, please vote in my poll!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own the** _ **Percy Jackson**_ **series or anything Rick Riordan has written.**

* * *

Thalia was not having a good night, but then again she never really considered much in her life as "good." Her _mother_ treated her like a parasite since birth, getting drunk and trying to forget about her daughter more often than naught. Then of course it turns out her dad is Zeus, as in king of the Greek gods, but he broke some oath which caused untold misfortune to follow his daughter. She supposed there once were two good things in her young life, her best friend Naruto Namikaze, who she nicknamed whiskers due to his unique birthmarks that only she could see, and her little brother Jason. By some miracle Beryl Grace cleaned up her act and Zeus came back, even had another kid, but much like everything her mother ruined it. The woman went back to her spoiled, drunken ways and drove Zeus away once more. Really Thalia should have left then, but she loved her little brother too much to leave him with that woman, that was until she was nine. The girl wasn't sure how, but Beryl had abandoned Jason in one of the parks. In turn Thalia abandoned her mother. She went back to the park to try and find Jason, hoping maybe the Namikazes would take her in, but she couldn't find her brother. The area holding too many bad memories for her, Thalia ran east, hoping to find a better life.

So far, she hadn't found that. She turned twelve not too long ago, in those three years she'd almost walked coast to coast, going from California to Virginia. Being a daughter of Zeus, her sent was strong and attracted many monsters. Most of these she fried with a little lightening, but there were a few that were just too powerful for her to fight, resulting in the child running away. Luckily monsters weren't the only thing she encountered, the girl had meet another demigod. Luke Castellan, a son of Hermes, was two years older than her, but was much more experienced to the world of gods and monsters. It was he who gave Thalia a basic run down of the common monsters they might face and their weakness to Celestial Bronze. Admittedly Thalia wasn't the world's greatest swordswoman, although she could hold her own with a spear just fine.

Thalia never did ask about Luke's past and why he ran away and he gave her the same curtesy. They'd ran into each other in the Midwest and Luke had decided to tag along with her on her journey east. Currently the pair were in Richmond, having been drawn by a powerful feeling to an old mansion. There the duo met Halcyon Green, an old man and son of Apollo who had visions of the future. However the gods were angered by the man's gift and cursed him to be confided in his childhood home, forced to watch as demigod after demigod fell victim to the monster, a Leucrotae, that was also trapped in the house. Thankful between Thalia and Luke, the children were able to convince the older demigod to help them, ultimately resulting in Halcyon sacrificing himself to destroy the Leucrotae and allow the other two to escape his home. Before his passing, the son of Apollo gifted the two the source of the trap, a replica of the Aegis shield, complete with Medusa image. The old man also gifted the pair a Celestial Bronze dagger he'd been given long ago.

It was hard to believe those events occurred not even an hour ago. Now the pair were huddled near the entrance of an ally, the sounds of monsters coming near. "You ready?" Luke asked as he pulled his sword from his backpack, she didn't ask how he fit it in there.

"Ready." Thalia confirmed as she transformed her bracelet into her Aegis shield and her can of mace into a spear. As the two settled into their combat stances, Thalia spied the approaching monsters, thankfully it appeared to only be a pack of hellhounds. As the monsters charged forward, Thalia braced herself to meet the assult, only for the unexpected to happen.

Right as the monsters neared the edge of the surrounding buildings, Thalia caught something falling in the edge of her vision. Whatever it was, it was shaped like a person but all she could make out was a blond head and a flash of silver. The person landed on the back of the first hellhound, driving something into the base of the monster's skull. They then vaulted off the decaying monster and kicked the nearest living one into the side of the building before rushing forward and using their weapon, which Thalia now saw was a silver knife with a ring under the cross guard, to slash the monster's throat open. As the last two hellhounds charged forward, the stranger spun their knife by the ring, the weapon transforming into what looked to be a silver M1911 pistol. Moving fluidly, the person aimed and took two quick shots at the monsters, hitting both between the eyes. The last hellhound tried to pounce on the person from the side, only for the figure to grab the monster by the throat, spin their gun back into a knife and sink the blade into the monster's chest. Only now that the everything calmed down, and the person was standing in profile, that Thalia was able to see the three lines on their check.

"Whiskers?" Thalia called out before she could stop herself.

Turning, Naruto saw his old friend and called back, "Thalia? How has it been, it's been years."

Thalia laughed before replying, "I'll say, what are you doing here?"

Before Naruto could respond, Luke interrupted. Pointing to the other blond with his sword, the older boy asked, "You know this guy?"

"Yeah, Naruto and I were friends before I ran away. Although," The girl turned her attention back to Naruto as he went about collecting the teeth of the slain hellhounds, the trophies he'd earned, "that doesn't explain why you ran away, your parents were always such kind people."

"I'll explain back at my hotel room." Naruto waved off the question as he stood back up. "But first, come on Annabeth, time to leave."

The pair of demigods were confused as to why Naruto would be calling out to an empty ally, only for a plate of iron to shift to the side, revealing a seven year old girl with long blond hair and grey eyes. Hesitantly, the girl looked over the two new comers before quickly rushing over to Naruto and hiding behind his leg, peaking out with a weary glance. Sensing the question, Naruto quickly explained, "Daughter of Athena, not fitting in her dad's new wife and kids. She just ran away and I've been looking after her ever sense. I was hoping to find a cache of Ares' weapons so she could defend herself, but so far nothing."

Hearing Naruto's plans, Thalia lightly elbowed Luke to gain his attention before holding out her hand. After a moment of though, the boy dug around in his back pack before retrieving the dagger and handing it to his friend. Weapon in hand, Thalia slowly walked towards the other two before kneeling down to Annabeth's level. Holding out the dagger, the daughter of Zeus said, "I think this would be perfect for you."

Hesitantly, Annabeth reached out and took the weapon. Sliding the blade form the sheath, the girl stared enchanted by the blade. She was brought back to reality when Naruto cleared his throat and nodded to Thalia. Sheathing the dagger, Annabeth gave the other girl a quick hug and said thank you before retreating back behind Naruto.

"So," Naruto began, trying to get the conversation back on track, "it seems like you've got quite the story, so again, let's head back to my hotel room."

* * *

It turned out Naruto's room was less a room and more of a suite with two bedrooms, a living space, and a bathroom. Looking around, Luke asked, "How did you manage this?"

"Pulled the tape recorder trick from _Home Alone 2_." Naruto answered with a smile. He would have said more, except Annabeth tugged on his sleeve. Rolling his eyes, but maintaining his smile, Naruto dug in his pocket before pulling out a white, rectangular device with a large screen and a grey circle underneath, plugged in was a pair of ear buds. Handing over the electronic Naruto said, "Here you go, just don't drain the battery again." Annabeth returned the smile before running to claim one of the chairs as hers. Thalia watched as the young girl turned the device on, then moved her thumb along the circle until the word 'Classical' was surrounded by blue.

Breaking the silence, Luke asked, "Just what is that thing?"

"Apollo called it an iPod, said that mortals would invent them in a few years so he got me one early, preloaded with every song in existence; past, present, and future. Got it for my eight birthday. It was a nice little party with my parents." Naruto half explained, half bragged.

Raising an eyebrow, Luke said, "Never knew the gods to be that interested in their children's lives, or be friends with mortal step-parents." After a moment, both Naruto and Thalia burst out laughing. "And just what's so funny?" Luke demanded.

"That you think I'm a son of Apollo, or that I'm a demigod in general." Naruto answered as he got his laughter under control. "I'm just clear sighted like my parents. They were friends with a few gods and goddess, but never slept around."

"Then what's up with your birthmarks, and your transforming knife?" Luke pressed for answers, resulting in a glare from Thalia, even though she was just as curious.

If Naruto was bothered by the question he didn't show it. Shrugging his shoulders, the boy answered, "As far as I can tell the whiskers are the result of a curse since my mom choose to marry my dad instead of being a shire priestess. As for the knife," Naruto paused to draw out his bowie knife, "it's enchanted silver, a gift from one of my mom's friends." He then turned his attention to Thalia and asked, "So what happened to you?"

"Life just got too hard with my mom." Thalia began, "Found out about Zeus and everything else when I was eight, ran away a year later, been wandering ever since. You?"

"I think my dad may have been investigating some rogue cyclops," Naruto began, "he usually tried to get his hands on all the monster cases so no one got hurt. In any case both he and my mom got attacked by monsters. A couple cyclops tried to get me at school, I lost them at my house and disappeared in the crowd."

"So what now?" Luke asked. "From the sounds of it we've all been running away for the past few years. We can't be the only demigods around, there has to be others, people before us. How did they survive?"

"As best I can tell, they went to camp." Naruto answered.

"Camp?" Thalia and Luke asked in sync.

"Hold on." Naruto said as he walked into one of the bedrooms. After several moments of shuffling and muted curses, the bot returned carrying a backpack. After a second of digging around, the preteen pulled out a thick book entitled _Guide to Myths_. "Camp Halfblood, a place where demigods train. This book mentions it several times."

As Naruto spoke, Luke began thumbing through the book, pausing on a set of pages, the one on the right depicting a portrait of a woman with the head of a cat, the left page written in a series of strange pictures. "How can you even read this? And this woman doesn't even look like any Greek goddess I know."

Answering each question in turn, Naruto said, "I can't read all of it, just the English, Japanese, Greek, and a small bit of the Latin parts. The hieroglyphics and the runes I'm lost on. And she's not Greek, I think she's Egyptian."

"Egyptian?" Luke questioned before quickly mocking the thoughts. "Please, it's only the Greek stuff that's real, everything else is just made up."

Naruto glared and challenged, "All regular mortals say everything we fight against is just a myth, who's to say the other mythologies aren't also real?"

"Alright, that's enough." Thalia stated as she moved between the two boys to defuse the argument. Hoping to get things back to a more peaceful conversation, she asked Naruto, "You mentioned a camp?"

"Right," Naruto began as he dug in his backpack again, pulling out a travel atlas. Opening the a map of the entire United States, the blond began, "I figured out that Camp Halfblood is in New York, somewhere in Long Island. I was planning to just head straight there, but the last Hephaestus TV signal I managed to pick up said something about an unusual amount of monster amassing on New York's southern boarder." The teen then traced a path through the state, "Right now my plan is to circumvent the usual route, take a train past the camp and come back through Connecticut and maybe take a boat to Long Island."

"I don't think my Uncle would be too kind to me being on the water." Thalia spoke up, only for her concern to be waved off.

"From what I read Poseidon is pretty mellow about everything, plus I'm guessing if Zeus broke the oath he wouldn't be the only one, Poseidon is just a bit more careful of covering his tracks." Naruto stated. "Besides, that's more so plan B. Right now I'm banking on the fact we'll run into satyr or an experienced camper on the way, that would make life so much easier."

The room was silent for a moment before Luke asked, "Can you even get into the camp? From what it sounds like the place is only meant for demigods, and I would expect there to be some deterrent to keep mortals out, even clearsighted ones."

"I don't know," Naruto admitted, "and I won't until we get there." Admittedly it was a little disconcerting for Thalia to see her friend so serious. Thankfully the tense in the air eased when Naruto's smile returned. "But that's a problem for another day. We'll rest for today, get a good meal, and then set out tomorrow. I've got a good feeling about this."

For the first time in a long time, Thalia smiled. Her brother may still be missing, but she had her friend back. Things were looking up.

* * *

Everything was going so wrong. Not having a better idea, the group ended up following Naruto's plan. They had gotten through New York without too much difficulty, aside from the usual monster that was easily dispatched. Unfortunately the train the group used went a little further than Naruto intended, stopping in Hartford instead of Stamford as intended. Worse, a large hoard of monsters had caught Thalia's sent. At first, due to Luke's insistence, the group had tried fighting back, but it soon became clear that the kids were just too out numbered. At first everyone could easily evade the monsters, but a cyclops had gotten a lucky swing in. Before being turned into dust, the monster had landed a heavy blow on Thalia's leg. Although he wasn't sure the severity of the injury, Naruto knew his friend couldn't walk, resulting in him and Luke taking turns helping the girl hobble along.

As they ran through the woods, Naruto's sensitive hearing picked up the sounds of the approaching monsters. It soon became apparent that the group would be overtaken in under an hour. With that in mind, the boy made a choice.

"Why are we stopping!" Annabeth demanded as Naruto carefully took Thalia's arm from around his neck and passed the girl to Luke.

"The hoard's moving too fast, we'll never make it out of the state, much less into New York, at the rate things are going." He then took off his backpack and gave it to Annabeth. Ruffling the girl's hair, the fellow blond said, "Watch my stuff for me until I get back, I'll meet up with you guys later."

Annabeth had tears in her eyes as she gave Naruto a quick hug and said, "Promise to stay alive."

"Don't worry," Naruto replied with a smile, "we'll see each other again." By now the group could hear the heavy footfalls of either cyclopes or giants. Turning serious, he turned to the older two of the group and said, "You guys better get going."

Although slow to start, with Luke having to almost drag both girls with him, the trio eventually started moving, Thalia calling over her shoulder, "Thanks whiskers! You might be doing something heroic, but don't expect a kiss next time I see you, although I will give you a dance when you catch up to us!"

The thought brought a smile to Naruto's lips. Getting ready, Naruto took out his iPod thinking, 'Okay, give me something to get me ready for the fight,' and hit shuffle. When a song called 'Whatever it Takes" by Imagine Dragons popped up, the boy raised an eyebrow, not familiar with either the tune or the band. Despite his reservations, it would have to do, the monsters were getting closer. After hitting play, and feeling a tingle travel down his spine at the opening notes, Naruto slide his iPod into his pocket before unsheathing his knife, a final thought going through his head as he charged to meet the monster.

'Mom…dad…other mom…I hope you're watching over me.'

* * *

Thalia, Annabeth and Luke had been running for the past half hour, none of them wanting to think about who they'd left behind. Finally making it out of the woods, Luke breathed a sigh of relief once he saw a road, with luck maybe they could hitch hick into the nearest town. After walking for a few minutes, the trio came to a road sign and Luke felt it was safe to take a break. As he carefully set Thalia on the ground, the girl noticed Annabeth crying, prompting her to ask, "What's the matter Annabeth?"

Although still a little shy around Luke, the girl had warmed up quickly to Thalia. Still crying a few tears, the daughter of Athena simply answered, "He didn't promise."

At first confused, Thalia quickly figured out the meaning behind the younger girl's words. Throughout their friendship, Thalia had seen Naruto pull off incredible things, such as doing a double backflip after jumping off the swings, simply because he promised he would. The fact he hadn't promised to meet back up with the group meant one thing.

Naruto didn't think he could survive.

Quickly picking herself up, and wincing at the pain in her leg, Thalia quickly ordered, "We have to go back."

"Are you crazy?" Luke questioned. "We're in no condition to fight, epically you. He knew what he was getting into and he still choose to stay. We have to make that choice mean something."

"I don't care!" Thalia yelled back, her eyes glowing. Extending her spear to act as a crutch, the girl continued, "He'd go back for any of us, so we're doing the same for him!"

Luke looked ready to argue even more, until he looked past Thalia and saw the hope in Annabeth's eyes, as well as that the nearest town was Westport. Taking off his backpack and retrieving his sword, the boy said, "I'm a son of Hermes, I'll move faster on my own." He then found some loose paper and scribbled something down. Handing the paper to Thalia, he continued, "You two head into town and go to this address, I should still have some things stashed there to help your leg." Before either girl could object to the new plan, Luke tossed his backpack to Annabeth and ran back into the woods.

* * *

Naruto had been fighting for what felt like an eternity, in reality probably closer to forty-five minutes. A slash here, a stab there, and an occasional gunshot thrown into the mix. Slowly but surely the boy was carving his path through the hoard, forcing the monsters to pay attention to him or be returned to Tartarus. Despite his countless victories, the boy wasn't unscratched. Several fresh cuts bleed from where hellhounds had nicked him, a large bruise formed where he got kicked by a giant, and he was fairly certain a cyclops's mace had dislocated his arm. Despite the injuries, Naruto had a smile on his face as he stood in his crater of destruction, he'd actually won.

Those thoughts left his head as he heard something running behind him. Acting quickly, Naruto turned on his heel and struck out with his knife, only for Luke to parry the blow away. "Easy, same side!" the older blond yelled.

"Sorry, you surprised me." Naruto simply stated as he began looking around for his iPod, the device having been knocked out of his pocket at some point during the fight.

As he surveyed the damage Naruto had caused, Luke could barely believe his eyes. No mortal, even clear sighted, should be able to vanquish so many monsters, few trained demigods could accomplish such a thing either. That left one last option. Walking up to the other boy, Luke asked, "You did all this?"

"Yeah, let me tell you it wasn't…." Naruto's reply was cut short as he felt a very intense, stabbing pain in his gut. Looking down, the blond saw a blade of a Celestial Bronze sword sticking out of his stomach before Luke pulled his blade back out. With his vision darkening, Naruto asked, "Why?"

"You've been lying to us." Luke simply said. Using his sword to point to the surrounding destruction, he continued, "There's no way a mortal could do all of this, you've got to be a monster. If you were telling the truth the bronze wouldn't have harmed you."

Luke had obviously convinced himself of his truth. Rather than waste breath trying to tell Luke he was wrong, Naruto managed to rasp out, "Once they learn what you've done to me, Thalia and Annabeth will abandon you."

"Not if I tell them you gave your life to save mine." Luke stated. Naruto didn't respond, he was already gone. Luke was about to walk away when his foot brushed against something. Bending down, Luke found Naruto's iPod. Smiling, he pocketed the music player, a detail to cement his story. Once more the son of Hermes began running.

If he had turned back he would have seen Naruto's body be engulfed in blue flames.

* * *

The past week had sucked. Thalia thought she'd be able to reconnect with her old friend, only for him to sacrifice himself saving them. It wasn't until the group had left Luke's home that she and Annabeth had learned what happened. Thalia didn't want to believe Luke until he handed her Naruto's iPod. Knowing no other human would have such a device, Thalia was forced to face the truth. To make matters worse, it took Naruto's death for the girl to acknowledge she had a crush on him, one that could have led to something more.

Annabeth handled Naruto's death equally as badly, having nightmares almost every night. Luke didn't seem to have any outward reaction, although Thalia suspected the boy was just in shock from seeing the other boy die.

So far the only positive thing that happened since the group left Westport was being found by Grover, a satyr who promised to get them to Camp Halfblood. Once there they could tell the director, who apparently was one of the gods being punished, about Naruto's sacrifice and help fast track the boy to Elysium, possibly even get him to the Isle of the Blest. Despite the promises, the words did little to comfort those still alive.

With all the hardships she and her friends had to endure, Thalia half believed that the trip was cursed. While Grover was a huge help, the satyr had gotten turned around once they were in New York City, resulting in the group falling into the trap of a cyclops. Thalia though she was a goner, but thankfully Annabeth was able to somehow slay the monster and free everyone, although it was much too late to travel anywhere, resulting in everyone camping in Central Park.

As Thalia tried breaking into one of the food stands to grab some potato chips for dinner, she heard the bushes rustling. Perhaps she was a little paranoid, but given all the monster attacks, the daughter of Zeus felt justified in instantly activating her spear and Aegis. As Thalia got ready for a fight, a voice called out, "Put thy shield away." From out of the bushes stepped a tall teenage girl with long dark hair, a silver jacket and a silver circlet on her head.

Although happy the noise was another person and not a monster, Thalia was still cautious and kept her weapons out as she asked, "Just who are you to try and order me around?"

"I am Zoë Nightshade, lieutenant to Artemis. By thy shield, you must be the daughter of Zeus." the older girl said. Without waiting for a response, Zoë pulled out a whistle and blew into it, producing a shrill noise. Nodding in satisfaction, the huntress turned back to Thalia and ordered, "Take me to the rest of your party."

Not having much choice, Thalia lead Zoë back to Annabeth, Grover and Luke, confident if a fight broke out the group could take the older girl. However upon arrival, Thalia was disheartened to see that her small group had already been surrounded by about fifteen identity dressed girls. While the girls seemed to ignore the others, Annabeth looked on in interest, Grover with a lovestruck expression, and Luke with a glare. Before Thalia could question what was going on, a new figure appeared from out of seemingly nowhere. The woman also wore a silver jacket, which matched her eyes and contrasted with her black hair.

"So, you're my new half-sister." The woman stated simply.

Not immediately recognizing which goddess this was, Thalia raised a challenging eyebrow and asked, "And you are?"

"Show respect to Lady Artemis!" Zoë immediately scolded the younger girl.

Before an argument could erupt, Artemis held up a hand, causing both girls to be quiet. Turning her full attention back to Thalia, Artemis stated, "Our information said there was another person among you."

"Naruto." Thalia began. At seeing the goddess nod, Thalia swallowed the lump in her throat as she continued, "he died making sure we were safe." Somehow saying those words added finality to her crush's fate.

After a few moments of silence, Artemis responded, "I see." Although there was no difference in her tone, one could see a hint of sadness in her silver eyes. "Zoë, I need to hunt tonight. Set up camp with the rest of the girls, have the boy and the satyr on the outskirts."

"Hey, those are my friends! You can't just split us up like that!" Thalia immediately challenged.

"Will thy relax," Zoë spoke up, "unlike some we don't abandon our…"

"Zoë enough." Artemis softly but sternly ordered. "Not tonight, just get everyone to bed." With that Artemis walked into the surrounding trees, disappearing into the wilderness.

The lieutenant fell silent, following her lady's orders. Thalia was about to walk back to her group when she noticed the huntress cutting a low hanging branch with a silver knife. "Is that Enchanted Silver?" Thalia asked.

Already knowing what the following questions would be, Zoë stated, "Lady Artemis was a friend of Kushina Namikaze's. My lady took a shine to her child, it was only natural she would bring gifts." Any further conversation was halted as the girls made their way back to their respective groups. Thalia said goodnight to Luke and Grover as the two were lead to their tents. Afterwards Thalia moving into the one she shared with Annabeth. After tucking the younger girl in, and reading one of the myths from Naruto's book as a bedtime story, the daughter of Zeus settled onto her own bunk, turned Naruto's iPod on and pressed play. As she fell asleep to some song called 'Heathens', she couldn't help but wonder if Naruto would have liked the song.

* * *

With a gasp, Naruto awoke. After quickly getting his breath back, the boy was amazed to find that he wasn't injured anymore, however he soon noticed he only saw darkness in all directions.

"So this is what the Underworld is?" Naruto wondered aloud, "Somehow I expected it to be more populated."

"Well this isn't exactly the Greek version," A voice spoke from behind. Naruto quickly turned around to see a boy with a pale complexion, dark hair, and brown eyes. Perhaps the strangest thing was that the older boy was wearing a suit. Continuing, the boy said, "not exactly any version considering your heritage."

"You mean being a son of Artemis?" Naruto asked, figuring there was no point in keep a secret if he was dead.

"No, the Kyubi part. Well him and his mate. Face it Naruto, you're mostly a monster, death isn't as final for you as others." The teen stated

Although happy he might be able to get back to his friends, the other boy's words set Naruto on edge. "How do you even know about that? How do you know my name? I don't recognize you as anything related to Shinto."

"Perhaps I should have introduced myself." The teen said, "I'm Anubis, Egyptian god of…"

"Burials and funeral practices, keeper of the feather of truth." Naruto finished, now recognizing one of the few Egyptian gods the general public knew about. "So what's that go to do with me? And why do you know so much?"

"In short," Anubis began, "your dad feared that someone would find out your secret. Luckily, as I said before, death isn't so permanent for you and this is actually a chance for you to grow stronger."

Almost none of this made sense to Naruto, so the son of Artemis latched onto the one piece of the story he understood. "So what was the deal my father gave you?"

"For knowledge of a ritual that will help me out later in life," the funeral god began, "I'm to teach you how to tap into your inner animal and do something like this." Naruto blinked as the teen glowed, in the space of a second the boy was replaced by a jackal. "Now, we have a lot to learn and not a lot of time." the jackal stated, "so let's get started."

* * *

It was official, Thalia was sick of monsters.

After spending the night with the Huntresses, the group were given some rations and pointed in the right direction. It would have been helpful if Artemis' group could have served as an escort to the camp, but apparently that violated some ancient law about interfering with a quest. Needless to say the group were almost immediately set upon by monsters. Learning from their previous mistake, the group didn't stop to fight, instead they just ran. If there was one saving grace it was that the monsters were only hellhounds, granted it was an unreal number of hellhounds but at least it wasn't another group of cyclops.

"Come on!" Grover urged, "Just over the hill and then it's a straight shot to camp!"

That certainly motivated the group. Once she crested the hill, Thalia almost laughed at the sight. It looked just like a regular summer camp, this was where they were supposed to train to be monster slayers? Despite her journey being near its end, Thalia noticed something, no one was awake. The group had run through the night, not have the chance to stop and set up camp due to the pursing monsters. Despite what Luke said back in Virginia, the daughter of Zeus didn't see any deterrent to monsters. If they charged down there the hellhounds would follow, the campers would be slaughtered.

'Well guess it's time to prove the power of the big three.' Thalia thought to herself as she tossed her backpack down. Activating her spear and shield, the girl took a defensive stance as she called out, "Go wake everyone up, I'll hold them off as long as I can."

"Thalia…" Luke began and reached out to her, only for the girl to rip her arm out of his grip.

"Quite wasting time and go!" Thalia ordered, electricity leaping off her spear. Luke decided to follow orders.

Seeing her friends safely make it to the boarder of the camp, Thalia let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. Focusing back on her task, the daughter of Zeus mentally prepared herself for the coming fight. How long would it take for the campers to wake up, arm themselves, and charge up the other side of the hill? It didn't matter, Thalia was determined to have as few demigods die today as possible. If she should be the one to fall today, so be it. At least she knew there was one friendly face she'd see in the Underworld.

* * *

"Alright, I've got it!" Naruto yelled, happy to finally have the hang of shapeshifting.

"Yep, in record time to. Must be the Greek in you." Anubis commented, and giving a rare joke.

"Thanks." Naruto replied to his new friend before asking, "So just why was it so important I learn this so quickly?"

"Oh, because of this." With a snap of his fingers Anubis opened a portal in the darkness, showing Thalia blocking the jaws of a hellhound with her shield before killing it with her spear, however before she could take a breath another monster tried to flank her, only to meet a similar fate.

"Thalia!" Naruto screamed. "I've got to help her!"

"Just wait a second," Anubis said as he grabbed the boy's shoulder, "you still have a lot to learn. You charge in there right now and you're limited to only one form, not to mention if you die so shortly after your last death that might be it. Can you really risk it?"

Anubis didn't get a response, Naruto had already dived into the portal while the god was talking. Instead of being annoyed, Anubis cracked a rare smile, "Yeah, that's about what I expected." As the god began the trek back to his Underworld, the scales needed to be maintained and Ammit needed to be feed. One thing was for sure, the events of the next few years would certainly be interesting.

* * *

Thalia didn't know how much longer she could take this. It seemed that for every hellhound she vanquished, two more rushed to take its place. She wasn't sure how long she'd been fighting, but the fatigue was starting to get to her. To make matters worse the Medusa image on her shield that usually scared away lesser monsters had no effect. It may have also been her imagination, but it seemed the beasts were getting smarter.

No, it definitely WASN'T her imagination, the hellhounds were beginning to strategize. Coupled with Thalia's fatigue, the hellhounds created an opportunity. Coming from opposite directions, one hellhound used its weight to hold down the girl's shield while the other pulled her spear to the side, leaving the daughter of Zeus wide open as a third hellhound charged forward.

'Well Whiskers, looks like you'll be getting that dancer sooner than you thought.' Thalia thought as she prepared to die.

However instead of dying to the hellhound, Thalia was surprised as something leaped over her. Despite leafing through Naruto's book, the girl didn't have a clue what the horse sized, yellow furred fox could be as it clamped it's jaws down on the other monster's throat. The friendly beast then turned back to Thalia, using its tail to spear one of the hellhounds, the other dying to a strange blue flame that was fired from the fox's paws.

Having a moment of peace before the next wave of hellhounds charged, Thalia said, "Thanks, but I had that handled." The fox just rolled its blue eyes, but seemed to smile anyways. Before any further conversation could occur, the next wave of monsters approached. For the next few minutes the girl and fox fought together, a circle of destruction as they felled monster after monster. That wasn't to say the pair were invincible, Thalia still suffered from major fatigue and it seemed the fox was also beginning to slow down. Slowly but surely the two fighters began collecting a number of injuries, small scraps and cuts at first but soon more serious injuries appeared.

"AAAHHHH!" Thalia yelled after a hellhound racked her back with its claws, leaving behind a series of long gashes. Quick Thalia turned to kill the monster, succeeding but losing her balance as well. As she fell to the ground, she caught sight of her new ally, the fox limping as it stuck at another hellhound, only for the monster to dodge and retaliate with a blow to the other animal's head that sent the yellow fox to the ground.

As she hit the earth, Thalia thought aloud, "So, this is the end this time. Hopefully I gave everyone enough time." As she heard the hellhounds approach, the daughter of Zeus closed her eyes and prepared for the end. As such, she didn't see the lightning bolt hit her body, or the moss begin to grow around her, or the pine tree begin to grow next to her, absorbing her body into itself as it grew taller. The hellhounds saw this, and also noticed the scent of the demigod was no longer present, thus they turned their attention to the scent of others, charging towards the camp, only to run into an invisible barrier. Their hunt interrupted, what few remaining monsters fled back into the shadows.

The fox witnessed all of this. Now being ignored, the yellow creature slowly limped up the hill, the barrier doing nothing to it. Painfully, the fox laid itself around the pine tree, encircling it with its body. By now a few campers came charging up the hill, too late to help either Thalia or the fox. They were, however, in time to witness one more oddity. Starting at the tip of its tail, a blue flame appeared on the fox and traveled towards its head, changing the monster's body to stone as it went. In half a minute the once bare hill was now home to a pine tree and a fox statue.

* * *

When Thalia first regained consciousness, she didn't want to open her eyes. It felt like she'd finally gotten a decent rest for the first time in a long time, moreover she was also laying against something soft. Eventually the girl had to open her eyes, seeing she was surrounded by a few teens wearing bronze armor. Guessing she didn't die after all, the girls said, "Hello everyone, you missed the party." When none of the teens reacted to her and continued talking to themselves, Thalia spoke louder, "Hey, I know I'm new here, but you all are just being rude." Still not getting a response, Thalia stood up and attempted to hit one of the teens, only for her hand to hit something invisible. Now close enough to see one of the teen's lips moving, Thalia caught the words 'tree' and 'statue'.

Putting everything together, Thalia found her fox friend laying down, and just now waking up. Walking back and taking her seat, Thalia leaned against the fox's body as she began scratching its ears. "Well, we're dead, but not in the Underworld. I guess someone decided to stick us in limbo. Sorry you got dragged into this." The fox didn't seem to mind too much given the soft purr coming from the beast's throat. Giving a slight smile, Thalia reached into her pocket, pulling out Naruto's iPod, "Well, we might be stuck her for an eternity, but at least we have some good music."

* * *

"Yes, I'll be state side by tomorrow." Apollo said into his cellphone before hanging up and putting it away and turning his attention back to his date. Even if he'd seen other people, the sun god maintained a good relationship with Bethany, often being the one to answer her calls instead of the usual order. He was sure the woman enjoyed herself every time he visited, which was why they were currently eating at a five star restaurant.

Despite usually leaving their personal lives separate, the woman asked "Everything alright? Those last few minutes sounded pretty heated."

Apollo waved off the question, "Just the usual family drama, my dad is upset with one of my uncles while the other is trying to play peace keeper. Really the only difference is my sister has been a bit more withdrawn than usual."

"Maybe she's pregnant?" Bethany questioned, causing Apollo to laugh.

"I'm sorry," the god quickly apologized once he saw his date's frown, "but if you knew my sister you know that's a very slim, if not impossible, possibility. But enough of my family drama, what was it you wanted to talk to me about? It's a little early for another one of our meet ups, not that I'm complaining."

"You're going to have to wait a little longer than usual I'm afraid, I'm pregnant." the simply stated before taking a sip of her water, "I already have my plans for the child, I just want to know if you are willing to be a part of their life as well."

As whenever one of his lovers shared such new, Apollo froze up slightly. Once over his initial shock, he replied, "I really wish you did say such a thing in such a public place." Not giving the woman the chance to respond, the god hurried to his explanation, "Okay, the long and short of it is that Greek mythology is real, my name isn't Anthony it's Apollo, your child is a demigod, I really wish I could have a direct impact in their life but ancient laws say I can't, and I have to leave you and never speak to you again once the child is born. Any questions."

Bethany stared wide eyed for several moments before facepalming. Instead of accusing Apollo of being crazy, as several of his past lovers had, the woman said, "Ra damn it, there is no way I'm letting Bes find out about this or else he'll start saying I have a sun god fetish." Seeing that she'd actually spoke those words aloud, and now her date was the one giving the questioning look, the woman said, "Looks like you weren't the only one who lied about who they are. My real name is Bast, Egyptian goddess of cats and protection."

After taking a moment to process everything, and then another moment to make sure he wasn't mistaken, Apollo grabbed the nearest waiter and told the man, "I'm going to need something a lot stronger than wine." Once the mortal had left, the god turned back to the goddess, asking, "So are you going to explain how you're in London? And the plan for our child?"

Surprised by how accepting the Greek deity was, Bast asked, "You're still interested."

"Of course, you are simply an amazing woman who I would be devastated to lose." Apollo began, "Plus it helps that when this comes to light my father will be furious. It's been a good few centuries since the last time I rebelled in such a manor, I need to keep him on his toes." Pausing to take a bit of steak, the sun god finished by saying, "Just a note if we want to stay together long term, I unfortunately do have a tendency to stray."

Bast rolled her eyes as she said, "Of course you do, a common trait among you young deities."

"Do you really want me to start making cougar jokes?" Apollo asked.

In response, the goddess gave him a predator smiles as she said, "You're free to say what you want, but I've already captured my prey." Taking a bit of her own dinner, she finished by saying, "As for everything else, we can discuss future arrangements once we have finished desert."

Once more Apollo questioned the fates as to how he meet such an incredible woman.

* * *

As the months went by Luke and Annabeth had adjusted relatively well to life at Camp Halfblood. Both were claimed on their first day, Luke staying in the Hermes cabin while Annabeth moved to Athena's. Both made friends, and a few enemies, with the other campers and shared the story of Thalia to all who would listen, Annabeth adding Naruto into the tale. Time flew by and soon it was time for a quest, to exterminate a monster in a neighboring state. Naturally Luke tried to volunteer for the task, only to discover one must be chosen for a quest. Despite praying to practically every Olympian, Luke was not selected. Instead, the quest went to Leroy Jenkins, a talented if not overeager son of Ares.

As Leroy began climbing the hill, he caught sight of the pine tree and the fox statue. Like many he'd heard Thalia's story from Luke and Annabeth, he was also one of the few to see the fox turn to stone (and his brothers gave him crap about sleeping with his sword). Already the tale was gaining notoriety, the tree now referred to as Thalia's while the fox was named a protector. Despite himself, Leroy recalled the tale and how sad he felt that neither made it past that day. Stopping at the base of the tree, the teen dug in his backpack before taking out an apple. Placing the fruit near the statue's head, the boy said, "I'm sorry this is all I can do, but thank you for all that you did, the both of you." As he turned to walk down the hill, the boy didn't see the apple become engulfed in blue flames and fade from existence.

Things spiraled out of control quickly. Tracking down the monster proved easy enough. A three day trek lead Leroy into the middle of Pennsylvania and to the monsters lair, a cave in the surrounding woods. Thinking it wasn't anything too serious, the son of Ares charged into battle, saw the hulking shape of the monster, and decapitated it. In that instant the teen realized three things. One, he'd just cut the head off a hydra. Two, his sword broke in mid-strike, leaving him with only the handle. And three, he really should have brought back up, even if his prophecy said to journey alone.

Usually a son of Ares would stand and fight against anything, but being unarmed against a two headed hydra caused him to start to retreat. As he ran towards the daylight, he could hear the massive serpent slithering behind him. By some miracle the teen was able to escape the cave, the monster right on his heels. However before the beast could strike, several boulders feel from above, crushing the hydra. Leroy just stared, not believing his luck, that was until a fox hopped down from above the cave and walked to the stunned teen.

Leaning down, Leroy gently petted the animal as he asked, "Did you do this?" The fox replied with a look that said 'Do you see anyone else who could?' prompting Leroy to say, "Well thanks, I suppose you should probably get back to your family." When the fox didn't move, Leroy figured it probably didn't have anywhere else to go. An idea came to mind, and he did owe the fox his life, "Well come on then, I'm sure you'll love life at camp."

As he began his trek back to Camp Halfblood, the fox followed close by. When Leroy recounted his tale to the other camps, they came to the conclusion that Leroy had inadvertently given an offering to the stone fox, in return the protector had sent help when the teen needed it most. It soon became an unspoken tradition for campers going out on a quest to leave some food at the statue and return from their quest with a furry companion. Soon the camp had its own skulk running around, causing mischief and taking treats.

The tradition remained unbroken for a few years until Luke, at the age of seventeen, was finally chosen for his own quest, retrieving a golden apple like Hercules had done before. Unlike others he decided to journey alone, feeling that if Hercules did the task alone so could he. Also unlike others Luke chose not to leave an offering at the fox statue, reasoning if the beast couldn't save Thalia any help it offered would be worthless. A month later the teen returned to camp, his quest failed and a scar running from the corner of his eye to his chin. Due to Luke's failure, and the increased hostility and activity of the monsters, the actives director Chiron, the famed centaur and trainer of heroes, placed a stop to quests. That was until the arrival of Percy Jackson years later.

* * *

It had been an interesting few weeks for Percy Jackson. The twelve year old discovered that the Greek myths were real, his dad was Poseidon, had his mother kidnapped by Hades, and now had to go on a quest to retrieve Zeus' master bolt before a war among the gods started. As he stood at the top of Halfblood hill along with his best friend Grover, who turned out to be a satyr, and Annabeth Chase, a daughter of Athena who may or may not just be using him to get out of camp, Percy double checked his back pack before asking, "Alright, I've got my pen, money, some ambrosia squares, and some other foods. Is there anything I'm forgetting?"

"Well, you are supposed to leave an offering to the fox statue." Grover informed his friend, "It's not an official part of the quest, more of an informal thing, but we should do it just in case."

"What happened the last time someone didn't leave an offering?" the son of Poseidon asked.

"Luke failed and got his scar." Annabeth stated in her typical matter of fact fashion. Not wanting to see the world destroyed, Percy figured it was better safe than sorry. Digging in his bag, the boy found what he thought was an acceptable offering. Annabeth didn't seem to agree. "Really seaweed brain? A cup of ramen noodles?" she challenged.

"It's all I've got." Percy defended as he put the container next to the statue the food quickly becoming engulfed in blue flames. Percy wore a smirk as he said, "And it seems like the fox likes it just fine."

In response Annabeth rolled her eyes before marching down the hill to where Argus was waiting in the camp van to give the group a ride into the city. Grover offered Percy a smile before following, the son of Poseidon bringing up the rear.

* * *

"Okay children, get ready to smile." Aunty Em said as Percy, Annabeth, and Grover posed. Admittedly the lady was a little weird, running a garden emporium in the middle of nowhere, the numerous life sized sculptures didn't help. However, given the fact the group had lost most of their supplies in the bus crash back in New Jersey, and the lady was nice enough to feed them. The least they could do was humor her request for a photo, even if Grover kept obsessing over one of the sculptures he claimed looked just like an uncle of his. Still, something was nagging in the back of Percy's mind. That's when he saw the fox.

Unlike most foxes, this one's coat wasn't red or orange but rather a muted grey, almost silver. This didn't seem to deter the animal at all as it charged out from behind one of Aunty Em's plants, ran to the woman, jumped up her body, and grabbed her head scarf before running away.

"Get back here you pest!" the woman angerly called after the fox, the children and satyr forgotten as she turned her back to the group, who now noticed in place of hair Aunty Em, or more accurately Medusa, had hundreds of snakes. As it was one of the myth's he actually knew, Percy acted. As he ran forward, Percy pulled his special pen out of his pocket, uncapping it to reveal its true form as the sword Riptide. With one strike, Percy decapitated the monster, her body vanishes and the head remaining as a spoil of war.

"See, I told you something was up!" Grover declared as the group gathered around the severed head, careful not to look into its eyes.

"Yes Grover, you were right." Annabeth calmly said before turning to Percy and asked, "So what now?"

Percy opened his mouth to say he didn't know, only for the group to hear barking. Turning around, the trio saw the fox make a reappearance, this time sitting next to a box and the cash registor. An idea forming, Percy said, "I believe now I have a package to send. Afterwards we should hope on a train west."

"And just how are we going to pay for tickets?" Annabeth asked.

In response Percy nodded over to the cash register, "I'm sure Auntie Em doesn't need that money any more, it would be a sham for it to go to waste."

Annabeth would have continued the conversation had Percy not started packing Medusa's head away and started searching for a marker to write the shipping address. Instead the girl turned to Grover, who was busy playing with the fox. Sensing the girl's eyes on him, Grover asked, "Do you know what this means? We just got rescued by a fox, the hard part of the quest is over."

"Or this quest is extra difficult and we needed additional help early on." Annabeth countered.

* * *

It turns out Annabeth had been correct. Fighting the Chimera in the Gateway Arch and then falling from said monument into the river below, doing a favor for Ares in exchange for some supplies, a backpack, and a ride west. Needless to say, the quest hadn't gotten any easier after vanquishing Medusa. Currently the trio were sitting in the back of a "Kindness International" semi-truck trailer. The name was very misleading as the three animals, an antelope, a zebra, and an albino lion, had obviously not been taken care of. After cutting the gum from the zebra's mane, and getting told thanks for it, getting a balloon off the antelope's horn, and shifting the food around to the correct animals, the trio of adventurers settled in for the trip.

After a while of talking, Annabeth was the first to go to sleep. Grover and Percy continued talking, guessing what their old classmates were doing or what activities at they would be doing at camp if there wasn't a quest. The conversation continued until Annabeth started mumbling in her sleep. At first the words were unintelligible, but as they increased in volume soon the other occupants of the trailer heard her yelling, "Naruto!"

"Annabeth." Percy cried as he tried to shake his friend awake, "it's just a bad dream, you have to wake up!" Rather than waking up, Annabeth instead clung to the boy, crying in her sleep but slowly calming down. Once settled, Percy turned to Grover and asked, "Who's Naruto?"

"He was friends with Annabeth, Luke and Thalia. He was clearsighted like your mother." Grover quickly explained.

"Was?" Percy asked, his curiosity too great.

"I never meet the guy." Grover confessed. "From what I can figure out him and Thalia were friends when they were children, before she ran away. They meet up by chance a few years later. He's the one who found Annabeth and tried helping them get to Camp Halfblood, but he died fighting against some monsters to the others could get to New York."

"Oh." was all Percy could manage after hearing such a depressing tale, however that brought another question to mind, "There's that name again, Thalia. Who is she?"

"Again, was." Grover began, obviously not liking having to retell the story. "You aren't the first child born to the Big Three since they took the oath. Zeus fell off the wagon in the 80s, got carried away with some TV actress, Thalia was his daughter." Wiping away a few tears, the satyr continued, "I found her and the others in New York, but got turned around, allowed another hoard to find us. I managed to get to the boundary of the camp, but back then there wasn't anything to prevent the monsters from storming the camp. Thalia recognized this, she stood her ground on the hill and held them off. Eventually it became too much for her, but Zeus took pity on her and turned her into a tree, helped to establish the magical boarder."

Not knowing exactly what to say, Percy eventually settled on, "She sounds brave."

"She was." Grover agreed. "Get some sleep Percy, the quest isn't over yet and the Underworld will make everything else we've done look easy."

* * *

After a few hours of rest the truck finally stopped. Admittedly, it felt good setting the animals free, especially since Grover's blessing would ensure they got somewhere safe. Still, for some reason the silver fox had decided to stick around, Annabeth explained it was part of the tradition to bring the fox back to camp once the quest was over.

"So let's review," Percy said as the group walked along the street where the truck stopped last, Las Vegas, "We're in Las Vegas and our destination is Los Angeles, a four and half hour drive. After everything we've been through, I think we can check into a hotel and have a day of rest."

"As much as I don't want to agree with the seaweed brain, I think Percy is right." Annabeth stated, "We're going up against Hades, it would be wise to be well rested."

Grover was about to ask which hotel they should stay at when the fox jumped out of his backpack and started running away. A moment passed where the trio stared at each other unsure what to do before they collectively started chasing after the animal. Twisting through the crowd the trio eventually found their fox, being held by a dark haired woman wearing a silver shirt. Slowing down, Percy continued forward, hoping he didn't sound too crazy as he said, "Hi miss, thanks for grabbing our fox." When he heard his friends gasp behind him, the boy raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Percy, that's Artemis." Annabeth quickly said, hoping no one was getting turned into a jackalope.

"Relax Annabeth Chase, no one will be punished today. I'm afraid Athena would be rather upset with me if I were to harm one of her children." The moon goddess said before turning her attention to Percy, "As for you, as you're the quest leader I'm forbidden to directly interfere with you, for the time being."

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Percy calmly and respectfully said, "Thank you for the information. Now can we please have the fox back, we need to look after him for the remainder of the quest and were about to check into a hotel."

"She," Artemis corrected the boy on the fox's gender, "and please tell me you children weren't about to check into this hotel, it's the Land of the Lotus eaters."

"The what now?" Percy questioned.

"Immortals who trick people into leaving behind their lives and being trapped by pleaser for an eternity." Annabeth quickly lectured her friend before turning to Artemis and apologizing, "I'm sorry Lady Artemis, he's still new to everything."

"Apology accepted." The goddess said with a hint of a smile. "Now how about a trade? You allow me to take this little girl back to Camp Halfblood early, yes I know about your new tradition, and I'll arrange a room for you three for the next three days."

"Isn't that going against the ancient laws?" Grover asked, thankful for the help but not wanting to be punished by the fates.

"It would be much like what my brother did in securing you a ride here." Artemis explained, "You three are doing me a favor and I am rewarding you."

"Then by all means." Percy spoke for the group, "we accept your offer."

"Great." Artemis said. With a snap of her fingers a silver business card appeared. Handing it to Percy, she said, "Show this to the front desk at Circus Circus and you three should have no trouble. Be sure to relax and have some fun. Oh and Annabeth," the three turned to hear the goddess' final words, "don't forget I'm always looking for new talent." Before the others could question what she meant, Artemis had already disappeared in the crowd.

After a few moments of walking to the hotel in silence, Percy asked, "Is it just me, or did she seem a little weird?"

"She certainly acted different from the last time I saw her." Annabeth commented.

"Maybe she just really likes foxes?" Grover supplied, "Although I though her sacred animal was a stag."

Ultimately the trio decided it was just a mystery for another day.

* * *

Hades regarded the three living beings that had stepped into his throne room. "Well, you are certainly early. I wasn't expecting you for another," the god paused to check a calendar, "two days." Seeing the glare Percy was giving him, Hades stated, "And now I'm guessing you'll be demanding that I release your mother and return the Master Bolt."

"How did you…" Percy began, only for Hades to interrupt.

"Please, you heroes are all so predictable. Now your mother," the rule of the Underworld summoned a green glowing ball, the prison of Sally Jackson. Before either the demigods or satyr could move, Hades threw the ball into the ceiling, the prison phasing through and not coming back down, "is free. She'll wake up in an area hospital as a Jane Doe who suddenly recovered her memories. As for my brother's weapon, I never had it."

"Then why capture Percy's mom?" Annabeth demanded.

"To get your attention. Do you honestly believe Zeus' bolt was the only thing stolen? My Helm of Darkness has been missing just as long, but if I bring it up to any of my siblings they believe I'm scheming for something." Release a great sigh, the god sank into his throne. Looking over the adventurers, he continued, "Despite what you believe I'm not looking for conflict. Yes I'll fight back if attacked first, but I have enough problems without starting a war within my family. I believe Zeus is right that a demigod stole his bolt, but they probably got help from a god after the fact." Hades then turned his full attention to Percy and asked, "Please do me a favor and open your backpack."

Although confused by the request, Percy had learned during the quest that you don't refuse a god's order. Shockingly, once the backpack was opened the Master Bolt was revealed.

"But how?" Annabeth questioned, "we got this from Ares."

"My nephew was always easy to manipulate, I much prefer dealing with Mars over him." Hades muttered to himself, although the children heard it. "Now then, it's highly probable that Ares still has my helm. Once you leave he'll be angry that I didn't smite you, at that point challenge him to a duel for my helm and your lives."

"You're just letting us leave?" Grover asked, "Not that I don't mind or anything."

"Yes, the myths paint me out to be such a megalomaniac, oppressed with gaining power and never letting heroes escape, well the ones remembered anyway. Sadly it's often the stories forgotten that hold the most truth to a person." The god then stood up and snapped his fingers, causing a new passage way to appear. "Besides how else will you three retrieve my helm if I don't let you go back to the surface, yes you won't be needing those pearls so save them for some other time." Before the group began their climb, Hades turned to Annabeth and asked, "You had something to request of me."

After thinking of what to say, Annabeth began, "I had a friend who died a few years ago…"

"And you wish to know their fate." Hades finished. "Yes if I'm correct you're asking about the Namikaze boy. Hold on." With a snap of his fingers a list appeared in the gods hands. After several minutes of silence, Hades said, "Interesting, it appears the boy is not in the system."

"What does that mean?" Percy asked.

"One of several things." Hades answered. "The first being he is still waiting to be judged, unlikely considering how many request Dionysus forwarded to me to fast track the boy. The second is knowledge you three are not meant to hear. Finally, and most likely is that he's in service to some minor god in exchange for being kept alive."

A new hope in Annabeth's eyes, the girl bowed to Hades and said a quick thank you before starting her climb to the surface. Percy and Grover quickly following her example. Hades may have been kinder than expected, but no one want to spend time in the Underworld for longer than they have to.

"One more thing," Hades called after the group, "I'll be sending Alecto to observe and ensure my helm's return. Although I suppose you're more familiar with her as Mrs. Dodds." While the second name meant nothing to Annabeth, it sent a shiver down Percy's and Grover's spine.

* * *

Admittedly the battle against Ares was a challenge and it was more so luck that Percy tricked the god into coming into the ocean, allowing the son of Poseidon to re-energize and land a blow on the god of war. With the duel won the helm was returned to Hades, via Mrs. Dodds, even if Ares supposedly cursed Riptide to fail Percy in the future. More good news followed, the mortals who witnessed the fight having the mist make things appear as if Percy was fighting back against his abductor. Soon enough he and his friends were reunited with Sally who recognized her son on tv. The four soon had arrangements made to be flown back to New York.

Once back in the city, the four were further surprised to learn they were all requested to come to Olympus to explain the events of the past few weeks. Thankfully no one was smited, although Ares was severely punished. While Zeus was extremely happy to have his bolt back, he didn't put much stock into the theory that a demigod alone was behind the thefts and some greater threat was still out there. Still, at least the current problem was resolved and everyone was somewhat happy. Before the group could leave, Poseidon had personally given Sally a box that could take care of a "smelly problem", if she so wished to. Percy had an idea of what was in the box, and what problem his father was referring to, but truthfully that was the last thing on his mind. Right now he just wanted to get back to camp.

* * *

From her seat Thalia watched the celebration of Percy's return. Thinking aloud, Thalia said, "Seems like little Annabeth was able to make some good friends." In response, her fox just huffed. "Oh what, you think she's going to fall for him?" the daughter of Zeus teased, her companion remaining silent.

Throughout the night she could see the faint glow of a bonfire as the celebration continued. Eventually the party died down, but later in the night Luke appeared on her hill, followed by Percy. "Just what is going on?" Thalia wondered, not able to see what Luke was saying but recognizing Percy's shocked reaction. She then watched as Luke drew his sword, the color of the blade indicating it wasn't completely Celestial Bronze, before summoning a large scorpion. He pointed his blade at Percy and the monster attacked, stinging the boy before being slain by Riptide. Despite being unable to help, Thalia cried out, "We have to do something!" Just as Luke ran away.

In response, the yellow fox stood on all fours before releasing a loud series of barks. Unknown to Thalia, the resident skulk of the camp soon started barking as well, waking Chiron and leading the centaur to Thalia's hill, where he saw the unconscious Percy. Taking quick action, the trainer grabbed the boy and took him to the Big House to be healed. It would be an entire day before the son of Poseidon awoke and revealed Luke's betrayal to the camp, and by then the traitor was dust in the wind.

By the time Percy made a full recovery, the summer was almost over. The boy said a quick but emotional goodbye to Grover, the satyr having gotten a searchers license and was now free to try and find the missing god Pan, his life's goal. As the camp activities began to wind down, the boy decided to go back to New York and live with his mom, she'd recently purchased a new apartment by selling a rather unique art sculpture. Annabeth had also decided to go home next week as well. After seeing how much love was between Sally and Percy she was willing to give living with her dad and step family another chance.

While Percy waved goodbye to his friend as she was picked up by her father, he was unaware another two sets of eyes watched the girl being driven away. "I really hope this works out." Thalia commented, "I never really thought Mr. Chase was as messed up as my mom, he just needed a little time to figure everything out."

* * *

With only the year rounders staying after Summer, Camp Halfblood grew quiet. For many months Thalia and the fox enjoyed the peacefulness, that was until one night in late April the following year.

"Look at the stars, look how they shine for you…" Thalia sang along to the song that came up on shuffle, a little slow for her taste but a good tune none the less. The fox certainly wasn't complaining about it, or the girl's singing. That was until he started barking, his hackles raised. Shocked at her friend's behavior, Thalia asked, "What's gotten into you?"

She got her answer when she saw Luke walking up the hill, carrying a sledge hammer. As always the daughter of Zeus couldn't hear what the boy said as he drew his sword and poured something along the blade. She felt a sharp pain his her stomach as her one time friend stabbed her tree. As she gasped for breath, she saw Luke beginning to swing the sledgehammer around, hitting something unseen, but with each blow landed the fox would flinch and Thalia heard bones snapping. Once Luke deemed his work satisfactory, the son of Hermes left. Thalia began to slowly stroke the whimpering fox's head.

"Don't worry, I'm sure someone will help soon." Thalia didn't even believe her own words.

* * *

As he ran to Thalia's tree, Percy began to wonder if he'd ever have a normal Summer again. After leaving a few days early via the Gray Sister's taxi, the son of Poseidon was shocked to see Thalia's tree dying and the fox statue all but destroyed. More shocking was that a pair of mechanical bulls, Annabeth called them Colchis Bulls, were freely moving in and out of the camp's boarder as they fought a group of campers lead by Clarisse La Rue, a daughter of Ares. Thankfully the monsters were defeated with a little help from Tyson, Percy's friend from school who turned out to be an orphaned cyclops, who Poseidon shortly claimed.

Although it was nice to have another friend at camp, the Summer just got worse. Apparently Thalia's tree had been poisoned by an unknown party, and since it happened on his watch Chiron was let go, being replaced by Tantalus, who insisted nothing was wrong despite the increased monster attacks and injured campers. As if that wasn't enough Percy kept having dreams of his friend Grover in trouble, but also something that might heal the tree. It was only after Percy and Annabeth caused a near riot in the dining pavilion that Tantalus finally agreed to assign a quest, however he gave it to Clarisse instead of Percy or Annabeth.

Really although Percy was slightly disappointed, the boy would have been alright with Clarisse having the quest. Despite their differences, the son of Poseidon recognized that the girl was strong and a great fighter. The one time he expressed some hesitation at not even being able to help with the quest, many started accusing him of being like the previous children of the Big Three, a glory hound, however in reality all Percy wanted was his friend safe and the camp saved. Truthfully he would have stayed at Camp Halfblood and help to defend against future monster attacks, had he not received a late night visit from Hermes, the messenger god, who implied the success of the quest rested on whether Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson went to the Sea of Monsters or not.

From there events spiraled out of control, as they tend to do in the life of a demigod. A confrontation with Luke on board his ship lead to the demigods and cyclops running into a hydra, only to be saved by Clarisse with her Confederate ghost ship. Reluctantly the daughter of Ares allowed the trio on board, but only after making them prisoners. From there it was a short trip to the Sea of Monsters, or as mortals knew it the Bermuda Triangle. After an ill-advised skirmish with Scylla and Charybdis, the ship exploded and the party was separated.

Somehow Percy and Annabeth stayed together as they drifted to C.C.'s spa and resort, which turned out to be run by the ancient sorceress Circe. Not surprisingly Percy was turned into an animal, a guinea pig to be more specific, and Annabeth received a make over. After returning Percy to the proper species, and inadvertently setting the thought dead pirate Blackbeard free on the island as well, the two demigods managed to steal the man's ship and sail further into the Sea of Monsters.

After a misadventure while passing the Siren's Island, the pair eventually found Grover, unfortunately the satyr was being held captive by the ancient cyclops Polyphemus, who thought Grover was a woman and intended to make him a bride. The cyclops also had the Golden Fleece, an ancient magical object that could cure any illness, which could be used to cure the poisoned tree at camp. Percy and Annabeth were able to formulate a plan, only to have to improvise once Clarisse made a reappearance, outed Grover's real gender, and Polyphemus decided to marry her instead. Needless to say, the new plan didn't work as well and even though they recovered the Golden Fleece, they were corned by Polyphemus and his man eating sheep. Thankfully they were saved by Tyson, who'd survived the explosion that now seemed so long ago, and the group were able to flee back to their commandeered ship and make it back to Miami.

Once back in the United States, Clarisse was sent ahead back to Camp Halfblood to ensure the quest as successful. Meanwhile the rest of the adventures were captured by Luke's minions. One last battle, and a sneaky Iris message to clear Chiron's name and firmly establish that Luke poisoned Thalia's tree and smashed the fox statue. Angered, Luke lashed out at Percy, leading to a sword fight (during which Percy was able to free an all black Pegasus from Luke named Blackjack who now considered himself Percy's personal steed) that almost led to the latter's death, if it were not for the intervention of Chiron and the Party Ponies, a group of semi-civilized centaurs, who defeated much of Luke's monsters and rescued the demigods, satyr, and cyclops. After the reunion it was a quick trip back to Camp Halfblood were Clarisse was celebrated and Chiron given his job back by Dionysus.

The celebration seemed to be the last thing on anyone's mind as practically the entire camp's population went racing to Thalia's tree, Chiron making the comment the fleece worked a little too well. Once her got closer, Percy saw a slightly older girl with short black hair wearing a leather jacket was nestled among the broken stone and tree roots. As the girl began to stir, Percy called to Grover, who along with Annabeth looked as if he'd seen a ghost, to help him out. Slowly the two pulled the girl from the tree and stood her up, by now she'd regained consciousness and began speaking, "I just had the weirdest dream."

Seeing no one else was going to speak as they walked away from the tree, Percy asked, "Who are you?"

The girl turned to look at Percy, revealing electric blue eyes as she replied, "Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus."

That, however, was not the night's last surprise. Once the three were clear of the statue remains, the stones began to move towards the tree. Jaws dropped as the stones placed themselves back together, reforming the statue. Once back in the proper shape, a series of blue flames rejoined the pieces into one solid statue. Once the flames fizzled out, those assembled were even more stunned when a yellow haze appeared above the statue. Slowly the haze took shape and it appeared as if a see through fox was pulling its body from the stone. Once the tip of its tail was free, the fox's body became solid. While looking identical to the fox that'd tried to save Thalia years ago, this one had two differences, it was slightly bigger and had two tails.

Calmly the residents of Camp Halfblood and the fox regarded one another, until a loud bark caught everyone's attention. The campers feared a hellhound was about to attack, only to become more scared as a massive, red, nine tailed fox appeared out of the forest, the trees bending out of the monster's path. The bark seemed to be an order to the yellow fox as the smaller creature slowly walked to the other one. A silent moment passed before the larger fox seemed to accept the other one, the pair walking back into the forest and disappearing among the trees.

Not believing what he'd just seen, Percy asked, "Annabeth, just what was that?"

After a silent minute, the girl finally answered, "Honestly, I don't know seaweed brain."

For once, even the daughter of Athena was stumped.

* * *

 **Wow, 25 pages. I think that makes up for my cliffhanger, short update, and long wait, don't you?**

 **In all seriousness this chapter did jump around a lot, but there really isn't much change to the plot of the Percy Jackson series until Titan's Curse so I figured I'd just give a quick overview of how Naruto's presence has begun to change things. This is the last of what I've deemed the "prologue" chapters, and now we can get into the real meat of the story in the next update (assuming it doesn't take me another year and a half to get to writing it).**

 **So with those events fresh, there are a few more questions for this story, such as…**

 **How will Thalia readjust to life outside of her tree?**

 **What are Apollo and Bast planning?**

 **What will Artemis do once she finds out her son is alive?**

 **These questions and more will be answered in the coming chapters of** _ **Kitsune of the Moon**_ **!**

 **But for now, I'm acw28 saying, "until next update."**


	4. IV

**Hey everyone, I'm back with another update for** _ **Kitsune of the Moon**_ **!**

 **So fun fact, this chapter is actually the first part of the story I thought of when I began developing this story. As I mentioned before, this story is inspired by** _ **Moon Fox**_ **by TenchiSaWaDa, which I'm sure people will be able to tell. As I said before, I'm not copying anyone else's work, but I do want to be upfront about where the idea came from.**

 **With that out of the way, let's move onto the story!**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

* * *

It had only been six months, but for Thalia it felt like a lifetime ago. After being imprisoned in her tree for years and spending a few months at Camp Halfblood, the Daughter of Zeus ended up going to New York with her cousin in the fall. Thalia had initially wanted to go to a boarding school that Annabeth would be attending but was convinced by Chiron that she would benefit more with individual instruction, hence her homeschooling with Sally Jackson. Ms. Jackson had actually been pretty understanding of the situation, almost unnaturally so. While Percy went to school, his mom had helped Thalia catch up on all the movies and other pop culture she had missed out on while being dead. As far as education went, Thalia caught up fairly quickly by borrowing Percy's textbooks.

For once, the teen could actually say she'd enjoyed her life at home. Ms. Jackson was every bit as kind and caring as a mother should be, and while Percy maybe her cousin Thalia had no problem treating him like an annoying little brother, and also had no problem knocking him down a peg when his ego grew too big. When the trio celebrated the younger demigod's birthday back in August, it was the first time Thalia had fun in a very long time, even if the blue cake was a little strange. But like any family, they had their quirks. As great as Ms. Jackson was, there were quite a few nights she encouraged the teens to go monster hunting in Central Park while she stayed home, to what end neither knew.

Currently, the makeshift family was close to the end of an eight hour drive from their home to Bar Harbor, Maine. After a quick detour to pick up Annabeth, Thalia settled in for the long drive by putting Naruto's iPod to shuffle, closed her eyes, and enjoyed the music, at least until someone shook her shoulder right before the high note of _Somebody to Love._ Taking out the earbuds, the teen glared at whoever was about to be electrocuted only to see Percy hesitantly back away as he said, "We're here."

"Right," was her response as she wrapped the cord around the music player and stuffed it into an interior pocket in her jacket. After a few minutes of watching Ms. Jackson fuss over her son before driving off, she commented, "Your mom's cool."

"She's pretty okay." The Son of Poseidon replied, slightly angering Thalia due to her own experiences with her own mom. Choosing instead to let the boy slide due to ignorance, she turned and began leading the group into Westover Hall, a castle-like military school. Truthfully, Thalia would have liked to spend a few minutes looking at the school's collection of antique weapons, but right now her and her friends needed to focus, Grover needed help.

* * *

It seemed that the Fates were smiling on the group as Grover found the trio before anyone else. Thalia took a quick glance at her friend as he and Percy exchanged an elaborate handshake. The satyr had grown a few inches and now sported a black shirt that read WESTOVER HALL: GRUNT. After giving her friend a brief hug, Thalia took charge and asked, "Okay, so what's with the distress signal?"

"I found two." Grover began as he lead the trio towards the Gym, obviously referring to demigods, "Siblings," an oddity but not unheard of, "powerful but I don't know their parentage. The vice-principal is a monster who keeps blocking me when I try to get them out of here. I didn't know what else to do."

"Relax G-Man." Percy said as he pat his friend on his shoulder, trying to calm Grover down, "We got this."

Thalia would have opened her mouth to tell Percy never to say something, only for a new voice to make itself known. "And just who are you?" Turning, the group saw two adults wearing the school's uniforms with red trimming, the shorter of the two being a woman with a faint mustache while the man had a pointed nose and heterochromia, his left eye being blue while his right was brown.

As she was about to weave the Mist to make a cover story, Thalia heard yet another new voice grab everyone's attention as they said, "There you guys are, I was afraid that you'd gotten lost." The Daughter of Zeus quickly regarded the stranger. He seemed to only be a teen, around her age, and wore the same uniform as the teachers but lacked the red trimming. He also wore an orange beanie that hid his hair while a pair of silver framed, orange framed sunglasses hid his eyes.

While none of the demigods recognized the stranger, Grover evidently did as he quickly snapped to attention and saluted the teen as he cried out, "Corporal!"

"At ease Private Underwood." The Corporal said as he walked towards the group, casually draping his arm across Thalia's shoulder's as he addressed the adults, "Mrs. Gottschalk, Dr. Thorn, these are the teens from the tour group that was discussed earlier."

"I do not recall any such group being mentioned." Dr. Thorn immediately challenged.

"Are you sure?" the Corporal asked, "Surely, as the Vice-Principal, you were told this, or perhaps that information was only shared with the staff that will be around next semester."

That caused the man to glare at the group as he hissed, "Get back to the dance and out of my sight."

In response, the teen gave a salute as he pushed everyone towards the gym. Now away from the adults, and possible monsters, Thalia turned to their rescuer and said, "Thanks, I thought it would be tougher work crashing this party."

The other teen just smiled as he said, "No problem, always happy to stick it to those assholes." He then addressed the rest of the group as he said, "I'm sure Underwood's already told you but just a few ground rules, don't cause any trouble and don't do anything that traces back to me. Also, you might want to avoid the punch."

"Why, is it that bad?" Percy asked.

"Nah," The Corporal said as he pulled a small box and a paper bag from an interior pocket of his uniform jacket, "one tasted too sweet and the other not sweet enough, so I fixed it." With that the Corporal threw the box and bag into the nearest trashcan, half a room away, the trash falling in a perfect arch into the bin. Thalia would have commented on the good shot, had the teen not already disappeared into the crowd.

* * *

Now left alone, Percy asked Grover, "So, who are the kids?"

Pointing the bleachers, the satyr said, "Those two, Bianca and Nico di Angelo." If Percy didn't know any better, he would have guessed that the two were Italian with their olive skin tones, although Nico seemed to be a few shades lighter than his sister, dark hair, and rapid hand movements while they talked. Like the rest of the students, the siblings wore the standard Westover Hall uniform, although Bianca wore a large green hat that seemed several decades out of fashion while her brother messed around with a deck of playing cards.

Seeing her cousin about to march over to the kids, Thalia grabbed his shoulder as she ordered, "Not now, the monster is probably watching us. We wait for our chance to grab them, until then we mingle and act like regular teenagers at a dance." She then got her first chance to really listen to the music and scrunched her nose up in distaste as she asked, "Who picked the Jesse McCartney?"

"I did." Grover admitted, rather reluctantly.

Giving her friend a small glare before dragging him onto the dance floor, Thalia stated, "When we get done with this, we're going to have a talk about your choice in music."

* * *

Awkward doesn't begin to describe what it is like dancing with a satyr. At least with his fake feet it didn't hurt too much when Grover stepped on her feet or kicked her shins, but that wasn't her main concern. Right now Thalia ensured that she always kept an eye on where ever the di Angelos were and whoever went up to them. Quite a few boys went up to Bianca asking for a dance, but each were turned down. It wasn't until a familiar figure walked towards the siblings that Thalia felt the need to speak up.

"What can you tell me about Mr. Sunglasses-at-night?" she asked as she pointed her chin towards the Corporal as he walked up to the siblings.

"The Corporal?" Grover asked. When Thalia nodded, he replied, "Not much, he's an upperclassmen that's been here longer than me. No one's seen him without the beanie or sunglasses. He's friendly, but doesn't socialize much outside of the di Angelos and another person."

"So is he another monster?" Thalia asked, wondering if she was accurate enough to fry the teen without hitting anyone else if the situation called for it.

Stifling a laugh, Grover informed his friend, "Please, the Corporal may smell strange, but he isn't a monster. He's more chaotic neutral than anything else, sometime dipping into good whenever he pranks a bully."

That comment brought up a fond memory for Thalia of an old friend, one that caused her to smile and forget where she was. Quickly shaking herself back to reality, the girl apologized by saying, "Sorry, what you said reminded me of someone." Any further conversation stopped when Thalia loudly yelled at seeing the other teen hand Nico a familiar object and point towards the DJ table. After quickly patting down her pockets to ensure she hadn't been mistaken, Thalia cursed again before ordering Grover, "Keep an eye on Bianca, I'm going after Nico."

She didn't wait to hear the satyr's response. She had to get that iPod back, and then she was going to fry the idiot who'd swiped it from her.

* * *

As sad as it was, this was probably the best dance Percy had been to. Sure there were a few dances at his own school, but he tended to just hang around the outskirts of the dance floor and mess around, although there were a few girls that tried to get his attention. Putting that aside, so far the Son of Poseidon had managed not to be ambushed by the roving packs of girls and awkwardly talked to Annabeth about the possibility of her moving with her father and step-family to California as he slow danced with the now taller-than-him Daughter of Athena.

Truthfully, Percy didn't understand why it would be so bad for a demigod to be on the opposite side of the country, aside from the smog. He was about to ask Annabeth for the answer when he someone bumped into him, rather roughly. Quickly turning around, Percy almost yelled, "Hey, watch where you're…" however his comment died in his throat when he saw who bumped into him. The girl looked to be about Thalia's age was certainly beautiful with her seemingly violet, shoulder length hair. While she certainly had a bit more developed figure than others in her age group, what caught Percy's attention was the combination of sunglasses hiding her eyes and foldable, red tipped, white cane.

Quickly finding his voice, Percy attempted to apologize, only for the girl to wave him off by saying, "No, it was my fault. Sorry to bother you." And with that she disappeared into the crowd.

Although his face was certainly burning a bright shade of red, the demigod turned back to his friend to try and forget the incident, only to see Annabeth looking as if she saw a ghost as the grey eyed girl mumbled, "That was Hinata Hyuga."

"Is that a name I should know?" Percy questioned, still catching up on some of the more obscure myths.

Shaking her head, Annabeth explained, "Before he…died…Naruto gave me a book that had information on just about every God and monster, alongside a few notable demigods and other important people. She was in it."

Thinking he actually knew where this line of thought was going, Percy commented, "A lot of the seers in myths are blind, do you think she's the new Oracle?"

Shaking her head, Annabeth replied, "I'm not sure, a lot of her page is in Japanese while the rest is blank."

Sensing that particular line of conversation had ended, Percy voiced a thought that popped into his brain, "Wait, am I in that book? Did you read about me before we met?" While Annabeth decided that the wall behind him looked interesting as she thought about her answer, Percy himself noticed something interesting in the bleachers. Stepping away from his friend, Percy quickly said, "Bianca's by herself, I'm going to go see if I can talk to her."

* * *

Thalia was now officially pissed. While she had initially kept an eye on Nico and had gotten within a hair's breadth of grabbing the boy and reclaiming the iPod, the crowd had surged around her and she'd lost her target. Currently the Daughter of Zeus was debating if it was possible to stun everyone with some low voltage electricity, really nothing more than some static, and then use the mist to make it seem like an exposed wire had done it. Yet those thoughts left her head as a familiar melody of violins and guitar filled the gym.

'How, Imagine Dragons doesn't even exist for a few more years?' She questioned herself, unaware as a figure snuck up behind her.

Shortly, Thalia found herself spun around, coming face to face with the Corporal as he placed his hands around her waist, smiled and asked, "May I have this dance?"

Not wanting to cause a scene and draw attention to herself, Thalia reluctantly looped her hands around the taller teen's neck, but couldn't stop from commenting, "It's not very nice to steal a girl's music player."

As the line 'I've been breaking, hiding from the spotlight,' came from the speakers, the teen's smirk only grew as he stated, "Well what other excuse would I have to talk to such a beautiful girl?" That comment actually made Thalia blush, and caused her to stay quit as the two slow danced to the song. The pair moved in a lazy circle for a few minutes before the song's pace slowed drastically, and the Corporal commented, "Well this was nice, but I think your friend is about to do something stupid." Seeing the questioning look the Daughter of Zeus had, the other teen pointed with his chin to the gym doors, where Percy was leading Bianca out into the hallway.

"That idiot." Thalia quietly said through gritted teeth, letting go of her dancing partner to remind Percy of the plan, the iPod forgotten. The Corporal just watched her walk away and out of the gym before digging into his jacket pockets for a set of keys. He had an idea what was going to happen next, he'd need his bike and his special tools.

* * *

Percy should have expected this, he really should have. After all, things tended to go belly up in the life of a demigod. After cutting his dance with Annabeth short, the Son of Poseidon had managed some small talk with Bianca, even if the girl didn't seem to know many pop culture references. As he had tried to figure out a way to safely drop the bombshell of all the Greek myths being real, Bianca suddenly declared that her brother had been away for too long. Wanting to be on her good side, and just generally wanting to do the right thing, Percy had volunteered to help look for Nico. Unfortunately the pair quickly became separated in school. By the time Percy managed to find Bianca, she had found Nico, but Dr. Thorn had found them. Using the siblings as bait, the monster had set a trap in an empty classroom, launching a dagger-like weapon at the teen. Thankfully the weapon only grazed the demigod, however it's poisoned edge caused the demigod to feel numb and had no choice but to follow the monster's orders.

While Percy tried using his empathy link with Grover to communicate the situation, he marched alongside the de Angelo siblings to a seaside cliff near the military school. While Dr. Thorn ranted about his ride being late, Percy wandered if he could turn this to his advantage, maybe by grabbing the siblings and jumping into the ocean to escape before sending an Iris message to everyone else to let them know everyone was safe.

Dr. Thorn seemed to know what Percy was thinking as he stated, "I'd kill you before you got to the water." At that moment the monster shed his disguise, revealing himself as the lion, scorpion hybrid Manticore, which Percy knew little about. Yet he did have a guess as to the monster's current motives.

Pushing the di Angelos behind him, Percy clumsily grabbed his been out of his pocket before uncapping it to reveal his sword, _Riptide_. Keeping himself between Dr. Thorn and the siblings, Percy pointed his blade at the monster as he stated, "You've had over a year to grab these two, you're working for Luke aren't you?"

The Manticore sneered as he said, "There is much you don't understand Son of Poseidon, but I'll let the General explain things, seeing as how you three will being seeing him soon." At the monster's words, the group heard the whirling of a motor as a helicopter began to approach. This only caused Dr. Thorn's grin to widen as he proclaimed, "Soon, the Great Stirring will commence."

Percy would have asked what the Great Stirring was, had the area not exploded into action. From seemingly nowhere Thalia appeared, her spear and shield already deployed. With a cry of "For Zeus!" Percy's cousin gained and kept Dr. Thorn's attention as she tried to skewer the monster's head. With the manticore distracted, Percy quickly lead the siblings to the surrounding trees, where Annabeth appeared shortly after taking off her enchanted Yankee's cap.

"Nice thinking Seaweed Brain."

"I try Wise Girl."

Rather than continue their usual banter, the demigods instead choose to watch their friends fight. Grover had adopted a support role, using his magic to grow the grass and weeds to try and trip up Dr. Thorn while Thalia continued her near non-stop attacks, only pausing briefly to block the monster's claws with _Aegis_. While the experienced campers were content to stay silent, not everyone in their group was.

"Just who are you people?" Bianca demanded. "What is that? What is going on? And what do my brother and I have to do with this?" Slowly her voice rose until she was practically yelling, regaining Dr. Thorn's attention. After batting Thalia's spear away, the monster used his scorpion-like tail to launch a series of spikes at the four. Percy and Annabeth didn't hesitate to crash tackle the di Angelo siblings, Percy deploying his own seldom used shield to help deflect the deadly projectiles. This was evidently the right move as not a second later his arm screamed in pain from the impact, the shield being dented beyond repair. Shortly afterwards was another sound, Grover yelping as he was thrown into the trees.

Evidently this also enraged Thalia. With her spear crackling with electricity, the teen released a wordless battle cry as she charged at the monster. For a moment it looked as though the demigods would win, then Percy remembered the helicopter. It was almost like someone flipped a light switch to turn off the night as a large spot light lit up the area. Although obscured by the night sky, Percy could make out the profile of the helicopter, which he could only describe as a gunship with the large number of missiles it contained.

The sudden light threw Thalia off her game. Although she slowed only slightly, Dr. Thorn was able to easily sidestep her last thrust before using his tail to bat her to the rest of the group. The monster opened his mouth to gloat about his seemingly inevitable victory, only to be preempted by the sound of a hunting horn. Before anyone could make sense of what was happening, a silver arrow suddenly sprouted form the manticore's knee, another soon appearing in his shoulder. Crying out in anger, the monster yelled, "Direct interference! A curse on you!"

"Not so." An angelic voice called from the woods, "The hunting of all beasts falls in my domain, and you are certainly a beast." Shortly a woman stepped out into the light, Percy easily recognized her as Artemis, even if she was wearing a silver parka jacket instead of a blouse. However, the demigod was in the dark about the group of girls, the youngest being ten while the oldest looked to be just older than him, dressed similarly walked out of the trees, bows drawn and ready to fire.

Percy didn't know who the girls were, but Annabeth evidently did as she called out, "The Hunters!"

"Oh, wonderful." Thalia grunted through gritted teeth, seemingly not a fan of the group.

Seeming to ignore everyone else, one of the girls, a silver circlet setting her apart, stepped forward and asked Artemis, "Permission to kill, my lady?"

The goddess answered with a wave of her hand, "Granted."

"I will not be defeated so easily!" Dr. Thorn cried as he charged towards the group of demigods. Annabeth acted the quickest, easily leaping onto her feet before rushing to meet the manticore head on, sidestepping the monster before leaping and driving her dagger into Dr. Thorn's back, somehow managing to hang on as the monster thrashed around.

The circlet wearing huntress, the second in command of the group, must have seen the opportunity as she began, "Fi-", yet the order stuck in her throat as yet another newcomer came to the clearing.

* * *

The motor of the helicopter hid the approach of the latest person. Seemingly appearing out of nowhere in between two huntresses, Percy saw a glimpse of the Corporal riding onto of an orange dirt bike. Quickly the older teen drove straight towards Dr. Thorn and Annabeth, stopping just short of the pair with a quick break, however the momentum of the dirt bike caused it to balance on the front wheel while the body turned sideways, the back tire smacking the monster in the face.

While the dazed monster stumbled towards the cliff, the Corporal wasn't finished. Still balancing his bike on the front tire, the teen punched his right fist into the air, a chain erupting from the glove that encircled Annabeth before grabbing her off the back of the beast and gently tossing her back to her friends.

As the Corporal's bike finally obeyed the laws of gravity and the back tire returned to the ground, the manticore disappeared over the cliff, and the mortals on the helicopter took action. As the men fired inaccurate rifle shots at the group, Artemis stepped forward and proclaimed, "No mortals shall witness my hunt!" With a snap of her finger, the helicopter turned into a flock of ravens, the men inside vanishing.

At hearing their mistress' word, it seemed many of the assembled huntresses took them to mean that they should take care of the last remaining non-demigod, the Corporal. Almost in unison the girls drew back their bowstrings and fired silver arrows at the teen. Percy, Thalia, Annabeth, and Grover all tried to shout a warning, only to witness something unreal. With inhuman reflexes, the Corporal drew a blade from his hip, a flash of silver cutting arrow after arrow out of the air, save for the last one that the teen caught with his free hand.

While those in the clearing stunned, the Corporal slowly got off his dirt bike. After taking a few steps as her surveyed those present, the teen turned to Artemis before kneeling and bowing deeply while he said, "Please forgive me for the interference, I thought it prudent to act before any of the demigods were lost."

Artemis regarded the teen for a brief moment before ordering him. "Rise and take off the disguise, Naruto."

That name shocked Thalia and Annabeth to their core, yet their shock only grew as the Corporal took off his orange beanie, revealing short, spiky hair. The sunglasses were removed to reveal blue eyes while a hand whipped away the make up on his cheeks to show the whisker-like birthmarks. He then turned to the demigods and gave a smile only Naruto Namikaze could do as he said, "Annabeth, who told you that you could grow up so quick without me? Hey Thalia, how was the dance?"

While the girls were stunned, Artemis took the moment to continue her conversation, "I was informed of your death."

"I got better." Naruto answered causally with a shrug of his shoulders as he sheathed his knife. That comment seemed to spur Thalia into action.

"You asshole!" The girl yelled as she marched back into the clearing, electricity surrounding her fist. Naruto saw what was coming and tried to pacify his friend, only to receive an electrified fist to the face that sent him to the ground. When Thalia grabbed him by his jacket, Naruto braced himself for more hits, only to feel Thalia's lips on his cheek. Peppering the blond's face with kisses between words, Thalia lectured, "No…more…heroic…sacrifices…for…you!" She then punctuated her sentence with a deep kiss on the boy's lips. The two remained lipped locked until they heard Artemis clear her throat, rather loudly.

Regarding the pair with a look between frustration and a glare, the goddess stated, "That's enough of that for tonight, especially around me." She then focused her attention on Naruto as she said, "We'll discuss your return later, and on whether your parents know of this." The goddess then went back to addressing everyone as she said, "But for now, it's time to rest. Zoë, set up camp and retrieve our guests' belongings."

"At once, my lady." The circlet wearing huntress said as she began ordering her fellow huntresses to set up the tents and get the fire ready. In no time the tents were raised in a crescent shape alongside the bonfire, the girls relaxing either in or outside their tents while white wolves and falcons stood guard. Naruto observed as the non-hunters just stayed at the edge of the group, trying to explain the situation to a skeptical Bianca, who confused the gods for athletes, and an enthused Nico. While everyone was distracted, the blond moved to reclaim his dirt bike, pulling the keys out of the ignition which caused the motorcycle to fold in on itself until it was a small, orange square that barely fit in the palm of his hand. Although he thought he'd been stealthy, the teen turned to find Zoë Nightshade staring at him. "A gift from Hephaestus for a future favor, same with the gloves." Naruto quickly explained.

Zoë seemed not to care whether the boy was telling the truth or not, instead saying, "My lady wishes to speak to thy, Bianca, and Jackson. I trust thou can find the way without me?"

"Of course, Onē-san." Zoë rewarded the boy with a rare smile before her expression shifted back to a neutral look as she moved to collect the other two demigods.

* * *

Naturally, Naruto arrived at his mother's tent first to find his mom sitting down as she tended to one of her silver deer. Knowing Zoë would be back soon, Naruto opted to nod to his mother before going to settle in a corner. Soon both Bianca and Percy showed up, telling Artemis the events of the night, the goddess growing concerned when the Son of Poseidon mentioned the Great Stirling.

Naruto would have asked his mother if she were alright, had Zoë not beat him too it, "Are you alright my lady?"

"Yes Zoë, but I'm not sure for how much longer." When the goddess received three questioning looks, she explained, "I've felt it for awhile now, the stirring of prey I'd half-forgotten existed. There will be trying times ahead."

"And that's why we need to get Bianca and her brother back to Camp Halfblood." Percy interjected, "So that they can learn to defend themselves from monsters."

"The boy yes, but there is another option for Bianca, she can join my hunt." Artemis stated, greatly confusing the demigods present.

"And this is where I interrupt." Naruto stated as he walked towards the center of the room. "Yeah, the hunt is probably the safest place for demigod girls. Immortality, inhuman archery skills, and close companionship are certainly some good perks." Percy began to wander just who's side Naruto was on in this debate, until the blonde continued, "But there are so major draw backs. For one you'd be swearing off love forever, plus you'd have to leave your brother behind."

Bianca was silent for a moment before speaking, "It sounds selfish, but…"

Once more Naruto interrupted her by saying, "You don't want to be responsible for him anymore." The teen shrugged his shoulders as he said, "I get it, little siblings are a handful. I mean I only looked after Annabeth for a few months but I was about ready to tear my hair out half the time she decided she'd only eat donuts and nothing else." The small joked seemed to ease the tension before the teen continued as he said, "Look, I'm not telling you to go to camp or join the hunt, but you should consider two things. First, if you do go to camp you'll have other people help you look after Nico, you won't have to shoulder the responsibility alone anymore."

"And the second?" Zoë asked.

"Consider this," Naruto continued, "you join the hunt and leave Nico at camp, but after a few centuries you fall in love and are forced out of the hunt? You would be alone in a world you would know nothing about." Naruto stated simply.

Once the teen finished speaking the air within the tent was filled with tension as the occupants awaited Bianca's decision. Finally after taking what felt like an hour to decide, the girl turned to Artemis and said, "I'm sorry, but I can't accept your offer."

"Are you certain?" the goddess asked. When the girl nodded her head, Artemis sighed before stating, "Very well, just know that the offer stands, for both you and Annabeth." Percy opened his mouth to ask what the woman meant, only for Artemis to motion towards Zoë and command, "Take Bianca and Jackson back to the others, I wish to have a few words with Naruto."

Once the two were left alone, the goddess regarded her son with a strange look, prompting the blonde to ask, "What are you thinking about?"

"Right now I'm debating if it would be worth it to turn my son into a Jackalope." The goddess answered without hesitation, only halfway joking.

"Jackalope? Really?" Naruto asked, not at all fazed by his mother's words. "From what I've heard you recently took a shine to foxes." As he spoke the teen shifted forms to become a yellow fox, slightly shy of the height of a Clydesdale horse with three white tipped tails.

As she regarded her son's other form, Artemis nodded to his backend and stated, "I had heard you only had two."

The fox shrugged its shoulders as it said, "Spent a few months training with Tou-san and Kaa-san. Their training was brutal, but it pushed me to the third tail so I can shape shift easily."

"I take it the chains are how you hide your tails when in human form?" Artemis asked, receiving a nod in answer. "So where else have you been? And why not let me know you were alive?"

Shifting back into his human form, Naruto answered, "Spent some time in California, visited the other camp for a bit." here the boy rolled up his right sleeve, displaying a tattoo of a basic stylized fox head over the letters SPQR, "As to why I didn't let you know, well there are two reasons. First when I scouted the camp initially, I only recognized a few hunters."

"Yes," Artemis interrupted her son, "unfortunately since your…death…nearly all of the group, save for Zoë and Phoebe, have either gone astray or fell in battle. And your other reason?"

"I got contacted for a job." Naruto explained, "the de Angelo's parent contacted me anonymously, wanted me to watch the two until someone came to collect them."

"Must have been hard to stay away from everyone, some more than others."

Knowing where the conversation was now going, Naruto groaned before saying, "Thalia is a nice girl, even if she does have some problems with impulse control."

"There are plenty of 'nice girls' out there that also aren't your aunt." Artemis simply stated.

Rolling his eyes, Naruto countered, "Yes there are, but I'm sure you'd have them take the oath, which conveniently would stop them from dating me." He then stated, "And as far as the aunt thing goes, need I remind you how many brothers and sisters get married in the old stories? And we both know that the whole divine DNA thing doesn't work the same as standard genetics. Plus our destinies are kinda linked since we spent so much time in the tree, at least that's what Kaa-san said."

"Enough." Artemis softly but sternly ordered, "I've just learned that my son is alive again and I'd rather not get into an argument. So, let's catch up before I have to call your idiot uncle for a ride into camp."

From there the pair spent the next few hours in a pleasant conversation before Naruto left to alleviate concerns that the teen was subjected to some divine punishment.

* * *

The following morning the assembled demigods and huntresses stood by the seaside cliffs. Despite Artemis assuring everyone dawn would soon arrive, Percy had his doubts considering how dark the sky was and how cold the air felt. Still, the boy just huddled near Annabeth, Grover, and Thalia who made herself comfortable against Naruto's side. Bianca and Nico stood not too far away, still settling into everything. Thalia kept glancing at the pair, sending Zoë a smirk of victory upon hearing Bianca's choice of going to camp, while Grover just gave a heavenly sigh at the mention of spending eternity with Artemis, which earned him several slaps.

Deciding to try and get some answers, especially since Artemis was one of the kinder gods he'd spoken to, Percy stepped towards the goddess of the moon and asked, "Um, are we waiting for the sunrise?"

"For my brother." The woman gently corrected, not turning away from the East, "He grows lazy during the winter." Percy was going to ask how the whole sun chariot thing worked since the sun was in outer space, but stopped himself when he spotted a bright light on the horizon. Once more Artemis spoke, ordering everyone, "Don't look until I say so." No one dared to question the goddess, as they turned away everyone felt the heat wash over them as Apollo parked his chariot, or at least the modern-day equivalent.

Once he had the okay from Artemis, Percy turned and felt his jaw drop as he saw his dream car, a red Maserati Spyder. The driver's side door opened to reveal a blond teen wearing jeans and a sleeveless shirt, a quiver resting on his back. Almost as soon as the god set foot on the ground, Apollo held out his arms and yelled, "Little Sister!"

In reply, Artemis quickly grabbed an arrow, drew back her bow, and launched the weapon at her brother, the sun god ducking under the shot. Undeterred, the goddess asked, "How many times must I remind you, I was born first? Especially whenever you adopt that form?"

The sun god just smirked at his sister as he snapped his fingers, ageing himself to appear to be in his mid-twenties. At seeing Apollo's new form, Thalia off handedly commented, "Damn, Apollo's hot." At hearing this, Naruto couldn't help but growl a little, causing the Daughter of Zeus to lightly laugh before rubbing his arm and saying, "Don't worry Whiskers, I won't leave you for my half-brother." She punctuated the statement with a quick kiss to the cheek.

While the two had their small conversation, Apollo had recited a horrible haiku before agreeing to take all the huntresses and demigods to Camp Halfblood so Artemis could go on a solo hunt. As he scanned the group, the sun god quickly set eyes on someone he hadn't seen in years. Strolling forward, Apollo called out, "Naruto Namikaze, last I heard you'd died."

Naruto gave the same answer that he had last night, "I got better." Upon seeing the small glare Apollo gave him, Naruto knew he'd have to do better and shared a bit more, "Around the time Thalia got out of her tree, some god, I don't know who, decided they wanted me in their service and revived me." The statement was true enough that the god of truth bought it.

"Interesting," the good pondered as he stroked his chin. "so I take it you're not one of those clear sighted mortals who give up after their first life threatening experience?"

"Depends on the reward." Naruto answered honestly. He knew all about his Tou-san's plan, but figured he couldn't use his skills for himself every once in a while.

"How about I upgrade that old iPod of yours, and allow you into Camp Halfblood if you take someone there for me?" the sun god asked.

"Done and done," Naruto said as he held out his hand to seal the deal. As the two shook hands Naruto commented, "especially if you're going to have a certain someone drive."

"What was that Whiskers?" Thalia asked.

"Nothing dear," the blond replied, almost too quickly. Giving the girl an exaggerated kiss on the cheek, the teen waved goodbye as he said, "I'll see you all at camp!"

* * *

It wasn't until Naruto was in the entrance hall of Westover Hall that Naruto realized two very important things. Firstly, the teen forgot to reclaim his iPod last night. Second, Apollo didn't tell him who he was supposed to take to camp, or what to tell them. Before he could even groan in frustration the teen heard someone lightly singing, "Thunder, feel the thunder." He then heard three quick taps before they finished, "Lightening and the thunder."

Walking up the stairs, Naruto wasn't surprised to see Hinata sitting at the top of the stairs, her cane tapping out the beat of the song. Waving his hand, Naruto greeted, "Hey Hinata, where did you hear that song?"

"The DJ couldn't figure out how to disconnect your iPod, so he just let it keep playing all night long. They tried to take it with them, but I stepped forward and said it was mine." The girl then gave a smile full of mischief as dug into her pocket and pulled out the iPod as she said, "No one wants to argue with a blind girl."

"Of course you actually need to be blind for that to work." Hinata just smirked at Naruto as she took off her sunglasses, revealing pupil-less, lavender colored eyes, as she tossed the iPod to the boy. Easily catching the music player, Naruto stuffed it in his pocket as he mumbled, "Well that's one problem taken care of."

Unprompted, Hinata stated, "The girl you're looking for is in block 11 of the dorms, room 03. She doesn't have a roommate, has already been taken out of the system, and knows about everything."

Impressed his friend had already done so much, or convinced people to do it for her, Naruto asked, "Are you ever going to tell me what you are?"

In reply, Hinata stood up and descended the stairs towards the boy before throwing her arms around his neck and saying, "Now where is the fun in that, Foxy-kun?" While she leaned forward, Naruto leaned back, greatly confusing the girl. "I'm not getting my usual?"

"We have to stop this." Naruto gently ordered, "I felt guilty as hell the time we were here but I didn't know if I'd be running into Thalia again. Now she's back in my life and actually wants to have a relationship, I can't risk that."

Hinata just smiled as she replied, "Okay Naruto, I won't try to steal you away." That calmed the blonde but left him defenseless as the girl quickly leaned in and stole a kiss. As she stepped away from her friend, Hinata continued, "However, that's not going to stop me from having some fun."

* * *

Left alone once more, the kitsune quickly decided that he'd best get out of Westover before any more surprises reared their heads. Moving through the school, it didn't take the boy long to arrive at the dorm room. After knocking, the blonde was greeted by a girl perhaps six or seven years old with light bronze skin and dark black hair. Although the girl wore the standard uniform, her blue eyes held a fierce, almost predatory, intensity. Giving Naruto a quick glance, the girl spoke, "I'm Katherine. Are you taking me to camp, Corporal?"

Nodding, the teen replied, "Yeah, grab your stuff and let's get going. And Naruto will work just fine." The little girl nodded before taking three steps into her room, grabbed a backpack and returned to the doorframe. Naruto actually whistled he was so impressed and said, "Haven't seen someone use a bug-out bag since I was a kid."

"Mom said always be prepared to move." Katherine offhandedly stated as she followed Naruto into the hallway and out of the school. As the pair approached the road, Naruto dug into his pocket and pulled out his motorcycle. Thinking of the vehicle he wanted, the secret Son of Artemis threw the cube towards the road, it unfolding in mid-air while an orange racing motorcycle.

At seeing the motorcycle, Katherine eagerly climbed on after Naruto sat in the driver's seat. After passing back a helmet, the teen told the girl, "Hang on." before he shifted the bike into gear and opened up the throttle. Needless to say, the Hephaestus made motorcycle easily outpaced every other car on the two's trip from Westover Hall to Camp Halfblood. Of course usually Naruto would have obeyed all traffic laws, but as he was in a hurry he just steered around the slower moving vehicles and used his superior reflexes to weave through intersections, the Mist probably making mortals see a stray dog or something. In no time Naruto crossed over a few state lines and arrived on Long Island before driving up a seldom used road and past a familiar tree and statue. As he sped through the camp, the teen gave the resident centaur a fright as he rocketed past the Big House.

Of course, no matter how fast Naruto's enchanted motorcycle was, nothing earth-bound had a hope of outracing the sun. As such, Naruto wasn't surprised to see what looked to be a tour bus floating along the edge of the lake while demigods, including a visibly shaking Thalia, and huntresses climbed out of the bus and onto the beach. Chuckling at the show, Naruto slowly wheeled his bike towards the group, only meeting glares.

Thalia glared the hardest as she accused her friend, "You knew he was going to have me drive, didn't you asshole?"

Naruto only shrugged his shoulder as he said, "Apollo is the type of god who tries to help people overcome their difficulties, although it's usually a trial by fire method." He then turned his attention to Apollo as he jerked his thumb over his shoulder and said, "By the way, quest complete."

"I see." the god replied with a grin as he looked at the girl, "Hello my little Kat." As he spoke, a golden, ethereal bow and harp appeared above the girl's head.

"Hi daddy!" Katherine eagerly waved to her father.

"Hello sweetie." Apollo said back, never losing his smile. To those present it was clear Apollo was a god who greatly cared for all of his children. He then turned to Naruto and motioned for the teen to bring out his iPod. Once the device was in sight, the God of Music snapped his fingers, the device shrinking down to a fraction of its original size while the screen took a greater prominence as the color shifted to a metallic metal. While Naruto nodded at the changes, Apollo commented, "I would have changed it to an iPhone, but I'm unsure what plan your parents have."

Any further conversation stopped when Chiron made his appearance. Stopping abruptly from a full gallop, the trainer of heroes looked disheveled, it was rather early and Naruto hadn't done him any favors earlier, as he asked the group, "Would somebody please tell me what is all this ruckus this early in the morning?"

"Chiron, my good centaur!" Apollo happily yelled as he walked towards his fellow immortal. "The short of it is that you have three new campers. Those two," he pointed to the di Angelo siblings, "are undetermined while this one," he used his powers to pull Katherine towards him and into a side hug, "is my daughter, you can do the whole hail thing later." The god then tapped his chin as if he forgot something and said, "Oh yeah, little sister decided to take a solo hunt and said she was leaving her girls in camp. Cool? Okay, I got to go, running late." With those words the god flashed back to the tour bus, shifted it back into sports car mode, and took off into the sky, leaving a frustrated centaur behind.

As Chiron rubbed his temples, he muttered about being too old for this but none the less addressed the group. "I welcome you all to Camp Halfblood. Some of you are new comers while others are returning campers. We're just about to serve breakfast, so please follow me to the dining pavilion for food and introductions. Afterwards I'll get the intro film set up while Mr. D. oversees the head councilor meeting."

As the group began walking away, Percy grabbed Annabeth's shoulder and asked, "Why are we having a meeting?"

The Daughter of Athena rolled her eyes as if the answer was obvious, "The Hunt is visiting the camp, which means we're going to have a capture the flag game in a few days. We need to strategize, trust me when I say this is one match you don't want to lose."

* * *

 **A little over 15 pages, pretty good length for this chapter if I do say so myself.**

 **So immediately a few changes from the book. Most notably Annabeth is still with the group (I wonder for how much longer…) and Bianca decided against joining the Hunters of Artemis (although I'm sure they haven't given up on recruiting her…). Trust me when I say that I'm setting things up for something that I hope everyone enjoys.**

 **So just a quick note on Hinata's behavior. I'm sure plenty of people will call me out on her being OOC, but I don't really see that too much. In this world at least, Hinata knows when it suites her to be shy and meek, such as her cannon personality, but also knows when she is allowed to be a bit more self-confident, much like a toned down version of her RTN version. Despite the change I hope a lot of people will enjoy the character, despite a lot of reviews telling me to drop the character before she even made an appearance.**

 **As always this chapter advanced the story, but left a few questions, such as…**

 **How will the capture the flag game go?**

 **How will the quest be affected by Naruto?**

 **What is Hinata (hint, think Shinto)?**

 **These questions and more will be answered in the coming chapters of Kitsune of the Moon!**

 **But for now, I'm acw28 saying, "until next update."**


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